With a simple Google search of “is the Carnivore Diet good for Ulcerative Colitis” you will find plenty of anecdotal evidence being used by people like Shawn Baker and other low-carb enthusiasts advocating for the Carnivore Diet for IBD. But, is it true?
One post reads, “Carnivore Diet vs Ulcerative Colitis- and it’s meat FTW again.” Another website says, “The Carnivore Diet is one of the most promising, safe, and surprisingly simple methods to relieve Crohn’s or Ulcerative Colitis symptoms.”
Within the same Google search, there are journal articles interspersed with the exact opposite information. Offering information about how negatively the gut is impacted by high animal protein diets. But, who do you trust and believe?
This is why The Crohn’s and Colitis Dietitians work tirelessly to provide you with safe, evidenced-based, free information regularly so that you have a trusted place to visit and learn about IBD.
So, if you are interested in the truth about the Carnivore Diet and IBD, keep reading!
Is the Carnivore Diet Good For Ulcerative Colitis?
What is the Carnivore Diet?
The Carnivore Diet is an animal product heavy diet pattern, high in protein, that allows no carbohydrates. It is similar to other low-carb diets, like the high fat ketogenic diet. However, it’s a bit more extreme in limiting to zero carbohydrates.
Foods allowed on the diet are only animal proteins or foods produced from animal proteins, including:
- Poultry
- Red meats
- Fish
- Organ meats
- Butter or lard
- Foods produced from animals, like dairy products are typically allowed
- Water (thank goodness!)
All other foods derived from plants like fruits, vegetables, grains, and nuts/seeds are not allowed. Even coffee, teas, and juices are deemed off limits. In addition, the diet is largely devoid of color and fiber. Could this be a diet that has anti-inflammatory properties?
How boring is that?! But, regardless of how boring it is, does it have any evidence behind it?
Is There Any Evidence to Support that the Carnivore Diet is Good for Ulcerative Colitis?
Many Carnivore Diet advocates will claim the diet helps with weight loss, inflammation, and mental clarity however there is little to no scientific evidence to support these claims.
One such study looked at self-reported social media data on nutritional practices and health status of a large group of Carnivore dieters. Participants also reported a high level of satisfaction due to the high protein intake and improvements in overall health with little negative effects (1).
Even so, it’s important to realize that self-reported data with little to no controls makes for a weak study. These participants were simply self-identifying and answering a few questions. The only other Carnivore Diet specific study I could find was an opinion piece on whether the diet could provide all essential nutrients (spoiler alert: no, it can’t).
In fact, the overwhelming majority of the literature suggests the exact opposite of the Carnivore Diet is best- a diet rich in plant sources and low in animal proteins.
It has been well established that a diet high in animal proteins increases risk of intestinal diseases by producing toxic metabolites like amines and hydrogen sulfide in the colon, thereby changing the integrity of the gut microbiome (2). Additionally, a diet high in red and processed meat has long been linked to colorectal cancer (3).
Carnivore Diet for Inflammation
Everyone has inflammation in their body. It is your body’s way of defending itself against virus’ and also helps us heal from injury. However, chronic inflammation which is seen in ulcerative colitis can damage the body’s cells and also have the potential to cause more harm. Many factors can help decrease inflammation including medications, stress management, and a change in diet. Which brings us to the question…can the carnivore diet decrease inflammation? Keep reading to learn more!
It has been shown in the research that foods high in added sugar, highly processed foods, processed meats, excess alcohol, and artificial sweeteners can increase inflammation in the body. As mentioned above, the Carnivore diet is high in animal products. This can include foods like red and processed meats such as pepperoni, deli meats, hot dogs, and bacon. These meats are also often higher in saturated fats which excess consumption of has been linked to an increase inflammation (4).
Foods that can help fight inflammation are items rich in antioxidants (including fruits like berries, lemons, and cherries), healthy fats (avocados, nuts/seeds, olive oils, & fatty fish), as well as vitamins, minerals, and fiber (which includes a variety of plants and whole grains). All of which are severely lacking in the Carnivore Diet.
Pros of the Carnivore Diet in IBD
So, are there any pros to the Carnivore Diet in IBD?
Potential pros include:
- Meets protein requirements
- Eliminates added sugars
- Minimizes processed foods
- Increased satiety due to protein intake
- Abundance of iron-rich foods
- Reduction in IBD symptoms initially?
While yes, the Carnivore Diet does provide ample amounts of protein and iron it does so at the detriment of health promoting compounds like fiber and polyphenols found in carbohydrates and plants.
It may reduce or eliminate processed foods and sugars. However, that fact does not outweigh the elimination of fiber and pigmented plant sources.
In IBD, the patient already has an altered microbiome. The goal with nutrition therapy for IBD is to restore some sort of normal for that person. It would not be in the best interest of the patient to continue promoting high animal proteins and creating toxic by-products in the process, further degrading the gut lining.
One could argue that the Carnivore Diet reduces symptoms of IBD initially due to the lack of fiber. There could be less irritation or discomfort related to the fiber intake, however symptom irritation is NOT the same thing as inflammation. Read more about that here.
Cons of the Carnivore Diet in IBD
We cannot ignore the cons of the Carnivore Diet in IBD.
Cons:
- Devoid of fiber
- Exceeds protein requirements
- High consumption of red and processed meat linked to colorectal cancer
- High animal protein negatively changes the gut microbiota
- High animal protein diets create sludgy bile
- Higher saturated fat intake negatively impacts cardiovascular health
- Higher sodium intake due to higher meat consumption
- Can create a disordered relationship with food
- Little to no scientific evidence for it
- Long-term adherence can create nutritional deficiencies (like folate)
When a person with IBD (or anyone) eats fibrous foods like oats, leafy greens, or beans they are not fully digested in the first part of the digestive tract. Food particles that reach the colon can be used by the cells there as food for energy production. This process creates helpful short-chain fatty acids that act as fuel for the colonocytes.
When the colonocytes have the fuel produced by the short-chain fatty acids, the integrity of the gut lining can begin to restore. Because the majority of your immune system is housed in the gut and sits just below these colonocytes, improved gut integrity protects the immune system, which is a huge priority in IBD!
Additionally, the International Organization For the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease has established that it is prudent to reduce red and processed meats in Ulcerative Colitis for best health outcomes (5).
Bottom Line: Is the Carnivore Diet Good for Ulcerative Colitis?
There is no cure for UC so when we read social media posts or headlines that try to say the opposite, we must be wary. It has been well established that fiber from carbohydrates and plant foods are health promoting, particularly for Ulcerative Colitis and the IBD community. For more on what to eat for IBD, we have plenty of free resources and blog posts like the one here on fiber and IBD.
If you are confused about what to eat and are ready for a higher level of support from a specialist, schedule a free discovery call to explore ways we can help you. We have many different levels and ways to support your IBD journey!
References:
- Lennerz, B. S., Mey, J. T., Henn, O. H., & Ludwig, D. S. (2021). Behavioral Characteristics and Self-Reported Health Status among 2029 Adults Consuming a “Carnivore Diet”. Current developments in nutrition, 5(12), nzab133. https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzab133
- Cai, J., Chen, Z., Wu, W., Lin, Q., & Liang, Y. (2022). High animal protein diet and gut microbiota in human health. Critical reviews in food science and nutrition, 62(22), 6225–6237. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2021.1898336
- Farvid, M. S., Sidahmed, E., Spence, N. D., Mante Angua, K., Rosner, B. A., & Barnett, J. B. (2021). Consumption of red meat and processed meat and cancer incidence: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies. European journal of epidemiology, 36(9), 937–951. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-021-00741-9
- Papier, K., Hartman, L., Tong, T. Y., Key, T. J., & Knuppel, A. (2022). Higher meat intake is associated with higher inflammatory markers, mostly due to adiposity: Results from UK Biobank. The Journal of Nutrition, 152(1), 183–189. doi:10.1093/jn/nxab314
- Levine, A., Rhodes, J. M., Lindsay, J. O., Abreu, M. T., Kamm, M. A., Gibson, P. R., Gasche, C., Silverberg, M. S., Mahadevan, U., Boneh, R. S., Wine, E., Damas, O. M., Syme, G., Trakman, G. L., Yao, C. K., Stockhamer, S., Hammami, M. B., Garces, L. C., Rogler, G., Koutroubakis, I. E., … Lewis, J. D. (2020). Dietary Guidance From the International Organization for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. Clinical gastroenterology and hepatology : the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association, 18(6), 1381–1392. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cgh.2020.01.046
It’s been a long time since I’ve read something so biased… this report really doesn’t make much sense.
what’s not making sense to you?
When reading this I imidiatly see a very biased perspective witch is a major red flag
Before you create more misinformation on this page I think you should read this case study:
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2024.1467475/full
I agree, we all come with bias. It’s important to acknowledge that always. As far as the link you shared goes – I will note that it isn’t a research study, just a case study. They also only used 10 people. The way the monitored improvements is through an IBDQ which only looks at things from a symptom level. As a nutrition researcher myself – I am more interested in seeing things like inflammation reduction, reduced disease activity and mucosal/microbiome changes. So many things can reduce symptoms that don’t actually reflect the bigger changes that I’m going after for people.
To not have bias with all of this, it’s important to also consider the larger body of research around IBD nutrition and the microbiome. I recommend the IOIBD study to start!
I first suspected a connection between my Crohn’s and diet when I went on Atkins to lose the weight I gained by being on steroids. To my surprise, all of my Crohn’s symptoms went away after about two weeks. When I went back to the standard American diet, they returned within a few months. Now, I am on Carnivore and went from three to four times per day to going once every three days. Is it optimal? No. But it beats not being able to go out because I have to be within sprinting distance of a toilet.
It doesn’t surprise me that your symptoms reduced – so many diets that I wouldn’t recommend can yield symptom reduction. Personally for myself and my patients I’m after more than symptom relief- I’d rather see inflammation come down, less frequent flares and normal bowel movements rather than diarrhea/constipation.
I agree, going every 3 days isn’t ideal at all and is likely pretty uncomfortable.
As someone who suffers from IBD-D I can confirm that the only thing that has ever helped my symptoms is the carnivore diet. I went 3 years without a formed stool and had constant urgency after every meal. All of those symptoms have disappeared on carnivore. I also used to have sleep apnea which went away and sore knees from having cartilage removed in both knees from football injuries. Anecdotal evidence should not be this easily dismissed, if anything it should prompt more independent studies without a vested interest. Any study can be manipulated to achieve the required outcome. If anecdotally a cohort of individuals say that fire is hot would you dismiss that evidence?
Hi Ryan, happy you are doing well. My response to this is first of I’m not sure if you meant IBS or IBD, usually IBS is one that is designated by a D or C at the end so I just wanted to clarify. This article specifically discusses Ulcerative colitis which is VERY different than IBS.
Secondly, you can have symptom relief with many types of exclusions – including not eating at all – but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t long term impact with exclusions. And symptom relief is far different than inflammation reduction. They are simply not the same – symptom relief does not indicate inflammation reduction. Which is why as a researcher myself – I can’t rely on someone’s symptoms alone as an indicator of improvement. We need to look at actual inflammation markers, long term impact etc….
Hope that helps!
I can only speak about gut issues and my personal experiences with the carnivore diet and will say that it was absolutely life changing …. never felt better or healthier now at 64 after 2 years carnivore….had my bloods checked before and after and without fail ALL markets improved …. the doctor was quite shocked when I told him I was on Carnivore for 2 years and also said that if anyone told him they would want to go on Carnivore diet he would have talked them out of it but was very interested in my results and was going to do some research into it himself 🤔 I will happily share my amazing results with anyone and will say I would rather live with fantastic health for ten years then 50 years of poor health of pain and suffering so I am definitely a convert
Hey Brigette, I don’t doubt all kinds of dietary adjustments can lead to changes and I’m happy to hear you are in a good place. If we are going off of antidotal evidence though, we have helped thousands of people (including myself) find relief without having to exclude all sorts of food groups. And thankfully there is a lot of evidence to back that up too.
My experience is the medical community is controlled by the big pharma so when I’m told by the ‘experts’ to do something I always do the opposite. I’ve suffered with undiagnosed until just 6 months ago, microscopic colitis for 20 years. I did everything the doctors and nutritionists told me to do but I never got any relief from any of it so I’m going to heal my gut the same way my buddy healed his by switching to the grass fed, wild caught, high bovine organ meat, carnivore diet.
The fact that people have lived healthy on animal foods is more than just anecdotal and no scientific study is necessary to prove that humans can live on nothing but whale blubber
I’m both a patient and practitioner… and have certainly never gotten any payment from a pharmaceutical company. I do this to help others like myself – sometimes to the point of loss of money too because I really do care.
People have many different version of every diet – so I don’t doubt that there are some versions that are better than others. An omega 3 rich fish version that utilizes herbs and antioxidants in cooking would be far different than one with red meat and butter 3 times a day. I’m sure we can agree on that right?
Oh my goodness… I don’t want to live on whale blubber though… do you?!!
You might want to include this study that shows full remission of chrons symptoms and normalization of intestinal inflammation after 10 months on a strict ketogenic diet:
https://www.ijcasereportsandimages.com/archive/2016/009-2016-ijcri/CR-10690-09-2016-toth/ijcri-1069009201690-toth-full-text.php
I appreciate a thoughtful discussion on the topic, one major downside to this link though is that it is a case study only not a study specifically looking at determining if the diet as a whole is effective.
Interesting discussion. Many thanks for contributions. Is a tricky journey. Don’t really know the way but thinking of cutting carbs at breakfast and so have been increasing red meat consumption which the research suggests is a risk factor. I do feel better in general as a result of this but I should say I don’t have any symptoms of UC anyway, just wanting to ensure that things stay this way.
Yes it is a risk factor from my view. It’s important to also know that symptoms alone aren’t a good indicator of inflammation or other harm that can occur long term.
Still in remission. I now eat a little fruit, avocado and very good olive oil as well.
Great to hear you are doing well and including diversity!!
As a life long athlete I struggled with IBD from age 20. Got worse over the years. Also started suffering from Gerd…. so the docs wanted to operate and put me on ppi meds for the rest of my life. IBD also got worse and later years during flare ups in hospital they wanted to remove my colon.
Sorry, I think you are way off base. Your bias is apparent from the get go and continues throughout. You would be better off being honest in that your goal is to slam what works for many.. because you know better. “The studies” have shown that every medication I have tries should have help and they didn’t. And isn’t it strange that every single medication for Ib d only relieve symptoms does nothing for the actual disease.
We all have bias. Wouldn’t you say your comment is biased based on your experience as well?
I’m basing my judgment on years of research and my own clinical experience as well – we talk to thousands of IBD patients each year and I’m hearing from them AFTER the experience the symptom relief with the carnivore diet and are now dealing with the huge and dangerous drawbacks from the diet. I’ve said it in almost every comment on here but I’ll say it again – symptom relief isn’t the only thing to consider. We need strategies that can also lower inflammation and decrease disease activity. We have helped so many achieve symptom relief without using the carnivore diet. There are huge dangers to consider with that diet – and the loudest voices are mostly from people experiencing the symptom relief but you rarely hear from the people after the fact when they experience the huge downsides.
I’m sorry you’ve had a bad experience with medications for IBD, it can take time to find the right ones. I’ve been there too.
Also there is Harvard research showing the benefits of it and clinics in Scandinavia and Hungary also who heal many and just generally assist with diseases with paleolithic ketogenic diet (a strict carnivore diet) have published many pieces of research which have been reviewed. I find it extremely disingenuous to state that those on carnivore eat loads of processed meat as that is completely untrue.
I’m not going to respond to the comments that are anecdotal and unconstructive – however I’ll leave this part of your comment and respond to it.
If you are going to reference a study, please put a link. The one you’ve referred to from is self reported data – self reported data can be full of bias. We have to look at it also in the context of decades of other research too rather than looking at it on it’s own. I’m happy to continue the conversation if you keep it constructive and provide links to the research you are referring to.
I agree with many others referring to biased agendas from those backing nutritional studies. But also, the article states”The only other Carnivore Diet specific study I could find was an opinion piece on whether the diet could provide all essential nutrients” So if it’s not been studied in the same manner in which a lot of people are finding relief, how can you counter this diet so absolutely? If they still don’t know how IBD is caused because there is so much that is still a mystery in the body, then isn’t it possible that for some people (not every diet works for everyone) it could provide immense relief and healing without medication? You mentioned you’ve met people with a poor experience, but there are other people with positive experiences. And if you can’t say that someone has found remission through the carnivore diet as they claim (and possibly prove from colonoscopies and tests), how can you say that it exacerbated it in the other people. Wouldn’t there also be other factors that could’ve cause negative reactions?
What bias are you referring to? We all have bias- and it’s important to be aware of that and be openminded to if presented with new information that questions your point of view. I know I’m coming to this blog with bias- bias from also having IBD, bias from the many people we have seen already be harmed from this diet, etc… however even though I’m aware of the bias- this doesn’t change my consensus on my evaluation of what we know about the carnivore diet. I’d also suggest you reflect as well – what kind of bias are you coming to the comments with?
Diet has been studied a lot as well as it’s impact on the microbiome, gut health and IBD. I don’t want that point to be missed or taken out of context.
However, in order for there to be a desire for a diet to be studied – there needs to be previous literature or reason for it to be studied. The research just doesn’t point at all to omitting fruits and vegetables for improved gut health.
In terms of what I’ve experienced with people that have done the carnivore diet – it all depends on what you define as a “positive” experience. Many people feel symptom relief in the short term – however symptom relief doesn’t mean much in the context of the bigger picture. You can achieve symptom relief many different ways without having to exclude things in extreme ways. The more important variables to look at are – inflammation reduction long term, improvements in the GI lining ect.
Given what I’ve seen in the research and with those who reach out to us – where we have seen their before and after labs – I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. It’s dangerous – and I’ve had family and clients be HUGELY negatively impacted by the people online discussing it. It’s not benign at all – I’ve watched people be hospitalized for participating in this sort of extreme diet and some that have passed away.
Great article, I’ve seen personally how harmful the carnivore diet can be! Thank you for bringing light to this.
The article keeps saying carnivore diet consists of large quantity of processed meat, while saying it minimizes processed foods, sigh. I don’t think anyone eating carnivore would consume a lot of processed meat, if any.
What do you consider to be processed meat?
I’m relatively new to UC. Was diagnosed with the last year and a half at 31 years old. It surely turned my world upside down. Luckily after months of struggling and being in and out of the hospital I seem to be in a better spot. As of right now I can’t attribute this to anything diet wise, its seems that mesalamine has been working for me. The next step for me is diet, I need to find something that works towards complete remission. I’m planning on seeing a dietician but have also been doing some research on my own. Before UC I was an avid weightlifter who consumed a high protein meat oriented diet. I still think my fruits and veggies are essential though, I have to have my morning smoothies with lots of berries and leafy greens. The only problems food wise I’ve noticed are milkfat and broccoli, otherwise I’m usually pretty good. I will say I’m intrigued with combining a paleo style diet with a heavy focus on proteins. Id like to get all the muscle that was taken from me back. I’m a firm believer in balance of all things in life so diets no exception. Has anyone had success with a animal protein leaning diet but still keeping some fruits and veggies in there?
I’m happy to hear that things are going well for you. My question for you would be- how are you determining what is a problem and what isn’t?
While testing things out and dietary logs is where a lot of people start – we always encourage taking a more comprehensive approach with nutrition. Dietary logs can be misleading because not everything that causes symptoms is harmful – and vise versa. We like to look more at strategies that encourage reducing risk of flare up long term which will ultimately be helpful for symptom reduction also.
Sorry for a long post, but I think have a somewhat unique perspective:
I’m a card carrying sceptic, but still I tried the carnivore diet for 2,5months, even though on ethical terms I’d rather be a vegan. So my experience is quite paradoxical.
My two main findings are also quite conflicting:
1. The carnivore community is prozleticing, semi-fundamentalist and at times anti-scientific. A typical SoMe echo chamber, plagued with all the usual cognitive biases. There are a lot of claims floating around, carried by “pretend-evidence”. Critisims are often met with antagonistic, conspiracy’adjacent rebuttals.
2. This diet seemed to have an almost miraculous effect on a vast array of everything from clinical conditions to niggles and pesks. I felt 10 years younger.
A benefit that I would like to add is that going temporarily carnivore is a very good way of exeperimenting with reintroduction of other foods, to asses their effects on ones body, as it is an extremely limited diet, and thus a good starting point for further investigation.
My experience, as a sceptic, was that I found myself in a strange conundrum. Fighting with my mind to try to decipher what was placebo, and what was not. That’s actually really, really hard if you are striving to be honest with yourself and others. To some degree (near) impossible. In a scientific perspective it carries no weight at all, except for perhaps a starting point for forming a hypothetical theory, giving way to experiments/studies in an academic paradigm. Anecdotal stories like mine should count for very little when assessing the validity of claims like those of different diet “fads”. It’s quite disorienting for human being to experience “the oposite of conventional wisdom”, and it’s very very easy to get sucked in to group think and the classic “the experts don’t know what they are talking about” thinking everyone not buyin in to your personal experience are shills, enemies, bot good people etc. On the other hand, keep in mind that dismissing a personal experience (especially one as strong as someone experiencing relief from pain/disease) and asking that person to neglect their own lived experience is futile and totally counterproductive.
I’m personally quite convinced some of my experiences are quite unlikely to be placebo (though I would never 100% exclude it, granting I could potentially be a crazy person): ie my digestion went from a constant life long problem, to “not an issue” (bowel movements are quite objective, measurable phenomenons, hard to misjudge), my sleep (lifelong struggle) was dramatically improved, and joint pains that made some things impossible (squatting), and other things painful (walking stairs) become trivial.
Other peculiar effects was better skin, body odor actually disappering, icreased libido, improved mood and concentration.
But again, there is very little actual scientific data to rely on here. However, that does go both ways: meat may be both beneficial and problematic in a diet, but very few solid studies exists for populations consuming *only* meat over a long period of time. Therefore critics of this diet, especially those from an academic background, should be careful to not casually condemn, and tout existing data as solid, given that data may not be apliccable given the unique conditions of consuming *only* animal based foods. Phenomenons always exist in certain contexts and paradigmes, and meat consumption is no different. Consuming meat and sugars may very well have a vastly different effect on your healt than consuming only meat. We do not yet know enough to say otherwise. Dismissing the claims and experiences of people without actual hard evidence undoubtedly ends up having a detrimental effect on public trust in science (which these days are a huge concern).
Be aware that there are a lot of uncertainty on it’s long term effects. Chief among these are elevated levels of cholesterol (ldl c, apo-b) which is linked to heart/artery conditions. Intestinal cancer is also linked to consumption of meat. Although there are plenty of claims, and some studies, suggesting these data points may not carry the same weight/concequenses when not consuming carbohydrates, there really is no scientific concensus here, so one must make a personal cautious assessment on risk/reward based on little actual evidence.
Also, beware it can be quite brutal the first weeks (nausea, lack of energy, lack of appetite, diggestion issues).
I would also warn against trusting the “prozletizers” blindly, as they will always tell you what you want to hear, and they are biased and very small minority, riding a joint narrative.
Heed warnings, be sceptical of yourself and others when it comes to things you *want* to belive, but do not dismiss your body and symptoms either. Accept that is difficult/complex, and the easies person to fool is youself.
Keep in mind that although “feeling good” is certainly an important part of being healthy, it is not everything. You could very well feel superb one second, only to die of a heart attack the next. Everything here is a give and take-, and risk/reward decision. In the case of the carnivore diet, the risks are very much uncertain, and pretending otherwise is not being truthful.
Peronally I quit the diet after 2,5 month due to uncertainty around cholesterol, and since I’m actually (ethically) not a fan of industrial meat production. I’m now mostly on low carb (mostly keto) diet where I try to consume mostly unsaturated fat for energy. For me this is pretty good compromise. I don’t feel quite as fantastic as I did on carnivore, but I do feel much better than when consuming more carbohydrates. I’m open to experimenting with going carnivore for shorter periods of time, but until further solid science exists I’m keeping the diet in my back pocket.
Thanks for the message – it’s good to be skeptical!
As someone actively contributing to research as well – I know nutrition and diet studies have a lot of confounding variables we always have to consider when we think about the evidence and if something is helpful or not! One of the things we don’t often think about is – what was the persons diet like before? For example – big dietary changes might include taking out a food or food pattern that wasn’t helpful or that simply just triggered symptoms.
Also, symptoms definitely shouldn’t be the only thing we measure when deciding if a diet works or not – you could not eat at all and see symptom improvement but that doesn’t at all mean it’s helpful for someone! I also think it’s important to remember that things like placebo and nocebo effect can also impact perception too. It’s impossible not to have bias when you experiment on yourself. Anyways, thank you for the well thought out comment. Wishing you all the best.
The author keeps saying that symptoms are not the best indicator of improvements.
I would suggest, politely of course, that sufferers would disagree.
Yes, this is something we often say. Not to minimize the persons experience but more so to help people understand that you can have inflammation even if it feels like symptoms are not present. This is relevant to the blog because many on the carnivore diet will claim that it “cured” their IBD just based on resolution of symptoms alone.
As someone who has also suffered with IBD, I’ll say I actually decided to go off medications for a bit because I felt my symptoms had improved (and to be honest because medication is expensive!). I didn’t have anyone monitoring me at the time to check inflammation. Eventually I ended up in the hospital with a life threatening infection that came on suddenly – which was because I had long term inflammation that wasn’t being controlled from the IBD.
This is the reason I share articles like this one- I know there are many that will post angry comments in response but I have to share how dangerous this diet has been for so many we work with. I also lost a close friend due to uncontrolled IBD & keto-carnivore diet choices which led to several hospital stays and ultimately they passed away. Forums and experience shares have a dangerous side when it comes to trying to get healthcare from strangers on the internet.
All that to say – I’m not at all trying to minimize the experience of symptoms. That is one of the primary aims of all of our programs. Here we all know just how much symptoms with IBD can impact quality of life and we truly want to help IBD patients like us find relief!
Re: “I have seen many people with IBD experience the dangerous sides of the diet in our practice”
Please share more on this .
Several people have reached out to us after trying the carnivore diet- after going back into a flare up or having hospital after months of doing the diet. Lab work before and after changes when done for months- and not in a good way. The worst part to me is that these people go on forums to get further dietary support (from those without proper training) and when it doesn’t work well and people on the forum tend to blame it on the person struggling which isn’t helpful either.
What these doctors don’t realize that even having a perfect diet and lifestyle in a study after 4 years the microbiome barely changes so it’s very difficult to recolonize and there are probably people in a lot worse state than me.
Good luck on your journeys
Hi Peter, I had to delete some of your message because I don’t want to comments section to become a place where people give medical nutrition advice without licensure to do so.
I have to say though – I disagree on your comment on the microbiome. In the many studies I’ve read on this topic – we already know the microbiome can already begin changing in just 3 days after a dietary shift.
Made my UC go into remission as Well sorry. I’ve had colonoscopi to verify.
I’m happy to hear you are in remission! I have to politely disagree that this means the carnivore diet is the reason… there are so many variables to consider with why people go into remission.
Also… there are several types of remission too! Symptom remission can occur and people can still have active disease AND active inflammation.
For a pseudo health publication to post unscientific negatives about those who experience relief from their autoimmune disease, is evidence of an alternative agenda. If you read some of their referenced materials they certainly don’t lead to major randomized clinical studies to the contrary and are summarized mostly by an abstract.
So it turns out this Crohn & Colitis website is as backwards as is the American Heart Association and The American Diabetes Association! They are bought and sold by the big pharma and big Agra for sure.
Hi Ben, I had to edit the medical advice given in your comment but I did want to reply to a few things.
The research that is linked shows an abstract because you have to click to view the full article. Some do require you to purchase or have a membership to a scientific journal. I wish more were available to the public for free but that’s just not how it is.
As far as my agenda goes – I’m here because I have IBD and have helped thousands with finding relief and feeling less stressed about their nutrition. I know what we go through as patients and I want people to have more access to quality information online rather than having to rely on forums or strangers on the internet’s opinion about what they should do. I have seen family and friends suffer with this disease and have lost someone as well – as a result of taking terrible advice from forums. So I’m definitely wanting to change this space.
I’m literally just someone living with a disability – helping others with IBD who has started a business with no funding but my own. I am not bought and sold by anyone in the pharmaceutical industry.. I’m not sure where this thought comes from honestly? What would they stand to gain from someone with IBD talking about nutrition online?!
I wish there was more evidence on this as so many people are saying it works wonders. What I want to see is actual colonoscopy results after following the diet for a year. I want to see this on hundreds of people preferably in a controlled trial. I agree that symptoms are not the only thing that should be looked at. In fact, I’ve never had symptoms really besides blood early on. So I want to see if I can actually control my inflamation.
To be fair… you can find that with literally any diet. The difficult part to is that online it can be hard to detect who is a real person vs. a bot.
There ARE other dietary approaches that do look at inflammatory markers before and after you could check out. The reason why there aren’t studies on the carnivore diet is that in order to do a study on something you have to have previous research to warrant the need to do the research in the area. But all of the last 10-20 years of research is supportive of the very oppositive of the carnivore diet.
Nutrition can be helpful in managing inflammation if done right – but the carnivore diet simply just isn’t the best option.
In my opinion “self reported data” is a million times more valuable than that harvested under scrutiny of of a lab. The FACT is when you go carnivore VS all the crap we used to eat you feel better. 10 times better. I’m 58 go to the gym EVERY day and hurt like crazy because I’m pushing myself. Guess what, once I cut all grains, breads, pasta, chips, salsa, veggies, fruit etc. from my life I have never felt better. I eat only what comes from an animal and cheat with avocado and vitamin supplements. This is not a joke it’s real. Try it for two months. The first month is hell (with cravings) after that you’ll be a believer.
How is self reported data more valuable? Especially when it’s self reported online- there is no way of verifying the accuracy.
Wouldnt it be rather easy to examine this scientifically?
Yes, and some of these things have been studied to an extent.
Article is complete rubbish. So much of what is states is patently FALSE. I have personally experienced complete remission of UC symptoms following a mostly carnivore diet (still a plant or two on occasion). Like Glen above, my diet is mostly whole food KETO. Probably 90% meat, some days 100%. Over the last year my bowel movements have completely normalized, zero constipation, and my stomach feels incredible even directly after eating, which NEVER happened prior. I am off all mesalamine suppository drugs that I used to take daily. I would advise anyone with UC to TRY IT and don’t listen to the plant-based morons pushing their agenda. It’s laughable that a website supposedly dedicated to Crohn’s and UC treatment would push so hard against a strategy that is working for so many just because it doesn’t fit their delicate paradigm. Disgraceful!
If you are going to call something false- state why and cite evidence so we can converse about it respectfully. It’s hard to have a conversation about it when it’s just insults and sharing your personal perspective/experience.
Like we have said before, experience is not the same as evidence. As we point out in the article too, symptom reduction isn’t the only goal with IBD. You can be symptom free and still have inflammation which can backfire in the long run.
Beautiful ! Why dont they just research it properly. My own UC has gone away with carnivore as Well btw
What do you mean by his UC has gone away? Are you referring to remission?
Hi – as a long time UC sufferer the best result all round for me was gluten and grain free – basically whole food KETO – no processed seed oils (not even flaxseed which caused skin breakouts) – most veggies are still okay, – much more balanced than carnivore. I have seen a lot of comments where carnivore is good for a month or two, but then reintroduce the lowest starch veggies first to make sure there is no reaction – maybe one or two at a time. Luckily dairy and eggs and some nut butters are still good with me, as are vegetables salads etc although I don’t do well with fruit, so a good wholefood diet and still really balanced.
While it didn’t cure my IBD-UC. I have my life back, thanks to the carnivore diet. One year now, eating nothing but meat with some cheese and no fiber at all.
It works better than ASA-5 (mesalamine), Imuran and prednisone. In fact I take none of those drugs anymore.
From 15 bowel movements a day, to 2 or 3 per day, some days just 1, and occasionally none. I was going to start reintroducing foods one-by-one after 1 year on the diet, but I don’t want to be stuck on the toilet all day anymore so I won’t be introducing any plants anytime soon.
I knew long before I was diagnosed that I couldn’t handle fiber.
Hi Kerry, when you say it works better – what are you basing this on? Symptoms are only one component to determine success on a diet. It’s important to also look at inflammatory markers over time like fecal calprotectin, CRP and sedimentation rate. It’s important to note you can be symptom free and still have inflammation present- and inflammation that isn’t controlled is dangerous long term. It’s not unusual for people with IBD to struggle with fiber when it comes to symptoms – but you can change the way you consume it which usually helps. Fiber is still important though when it comes to the research we have on IBD!
Completely disagree with you, Mr. Baker. As an MD it’s important to stay on top of your research.
Embarrassing article. Hope no one one falls for this absolute BS
Is there any harm in trying it for a few weeks to see if it helps? It’s hard to ignore the loads of anecdotes claiming remission.
Hi Rich, in my professional opinion I think yes it can cause significant harm- I have seen many people with IBD experience the dangerous sides of the diet in our practice. I also know that with the microbiome- there is research that shows changes can occur within 2-3 days of changing up the gut environment. It’s also important to note though- that symptoms are NOT the best indicator of success or improvements. In conditions like IBD- we need to look at long term measurements of inflammation and disease activity to validate if something is improving IBD. It’s always important to note with nutrition- experience isn’t the same thing as evidence.
And it’s also important to note that any diet really can be taken to extremes and become more harmful. Out of all the diets out there though, the carnivore diet has the most potential to cause harm- especially in vulnerable populations like IBD.
From a personal standpoint though, as someone who has struggled also without much help I know that people are just trying to figure out answers with limited support. We have a great you tube channel though that explains some of the science and details of all this though!