The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) is an organization devoted to two things. Giving the appearance they have valuable information for those suffering from Crohn’s Disease and colitis and the promotion of their sponsors medications for the treatment of these health conditions. The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America gives the impression there isn’t much out there for help with Crohn’s Disease and colitis other than very dangerous drugs and surgery. What a shame for those suffering. Are they helping or hurting? You be the judge.

Does the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America really help people? Depends. For information, helping. For a cure or a way to naturally solve your health condition, hurting.

If your goal is to learn about Crohn’s Disease or the many types of colitis, all also known as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), then yes, the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America is helping.

If your goal is to learn about medications that are used for treating IBD, to suppress your symptoms with those medications and never get to the cause of your IBD, the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America is helping.

If your goal is to participate in a clinical trial as a guinea pig using as of yet unapproved drugs with unknown side effects, then yes, the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America is helping.

If you don’t mind that the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America is largely supported by pharmaceutical companies, I’d say that’s an agenda and that’s not helping anyone with unbiased information.

If your goal is to find a support group in your area or join their online community, the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America is helping.

If your goal is to cure yourself of IBD, reverse IBD, eliminate IBD, end all your symptoms and take no medications at all, sadly no…the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America is definitely NOT helping.

If your goal is to learn what foods may be contributing to your symptoms and your condition, unfortunately for you, the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America doesn’t believe that diet plays much of a role in your condition. Though they offer some recipes, those recipes are devoid of a logical explanation of the basis behind the choices of the foods in those recipes. No specific foods suggested to be eaten and no specific foods mentioned to avoid.

The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America states that, “Diet can certainly affect symptoms of these diseases, and may play some role in the underlying inflammatory process, but it appears not to be the major factor in the inflammatory process.” They then further state that food allergies play no role and no specific foods worsen IBD. They offer no dietary advice.

So, they think that the system of the body that processes food (GI tract) and has developed IBD like Crohn’s Disease of a type of colitis, they think foods placed into that system have no relationship to IBD. This makes no sense to the sensible.

The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America’s states their mission: “…is to cure Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and to improve the quality of life of children and adults affected by these diseases. CCFA sponsors basic and clinical research of the highest quality. We also offer a wide range of educational programs for patients and health care professionals, while providing supportive services to help people cope with these chronic intestinal diseases. These programs are supported solely through our donors, grants, and fundraising efforts”.

There is no way the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America will find a cure for Crohn’s Disease or a cure for any type of colitis with their research. The purpose of research is to find one molecule (drug) that can suppress a particular symptom. Unfortunately, IBD consists of many symptoms and that one molecule will not address all of them. Nor will they find a drug that will allow a patient with IBD to eat anything they wish.

And that’s the reason the majority of drugs used for IBD are anti-inflammatory medications. Easiest thing to do. No brainer. Just beat the inflammatory process down and send the patient on their way. Don’t worry about getting to the cause of WHY they have IBD.

Further complicating their effort is that one IBD patient has their symptoms for an entirely different reason than another. Treatment for one will not necessarily be effective for another. This applies to diet also. What you eat is VERY important with regard to healing IBD. Identification of food intolerances and food allergies is important because the temporary elimination of them will play a large role in reducing the inflammatory process and permanent healing of the gastrointestinal system.

The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America’s desire to improve the quality of life for patients with IBD is admirable, but involves taking dangerous anti-inflammatory medications for perhaps the rest of your life (suppressing symptoms). Management and suppression of symptoms is NOT what a patient is looking for. Surgery is a real possibility for those who follow this approach. I fully realize this may be best for those who have no other options for financial reasons.

So, why not try a natural approach with an actual chance at elimination of your IBD. Yes, it is possible and done everyday.

Using probiotics, nutritional supplementation, anti-inflammatory herbs, digestive enzymes, temporary food eliminations and the results of a very specific food allergy test that identifies the specific food for you that are promoting inflammation in your bowels, it is possible to reverse any type of IBD, end your symptoms and have no need to be taking dangerous drugs.