Associations between diet and disease activity in ulcerative colitis patients using a novel method of data analysis.

Background: The relapsing nature and varying geographical prevalence of ulcerative colitis (UC) implicates environmental factors such as diet in its aetiology.

Methods: In order to determine which foods might be related to disease activity in UC a new method of dietary analysis was developed and applied. Eighty-one UC patients were recruited at all stages of the disease process.

Contribution of dietary protein and inorganic sulfur to urinary sulfate: toward a biomarker of inorganic sulfur intake.

Background: Sulfiting agents are widely used as food additives. Limits are set on their use in foods because they may adversely affect health. Sulfiting agents are excreted in urine as sulfate, which is indistinguishable from sulfate derived from sulfur amino acids.

The effects of bismuth, iron, zinc and nitrate on free sulfide in batch cultures seeded with fecal flora.

Background: Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and methanthiol (CH3SH) have been implicated as bacterially derived toxins which may be damaging to the gut mucosa. The addition of nitrate and metals that bind sulfide could potentially reduce the concentrations of these toxic gases. In this study, the effects of iron, zinc, bismuth and nitrate on free H2S concentrations in fecal batch cultures were investigated.

The effect of 5-aminosalicylic acid-containing drugs on sulfide production by sulfate-reducing and amino acid-fermenting bacteria.

The toxic, bacterial metabolite sulfide is implicated in ulcerative colitis. Ulcerative colitis patients taking 5-aminosalicylic acid-containing drugs have lower fecal sulfide levels than those not taking these drugs. The effects of sulfasalazine, balsalazide, olsalazine, and 5-aminosalicylic acid on sulfide production were studied in a three-stage chemostat pulsed on days 1 to 3 with 5 g sulfasalazine (40 mM) and in pure cultures of amino acid-fermenting and sulfate-reducing bacteria.