Gut Response

GUT RESPONSE easing kids’ stomach woes

WORDS ALEXIS PATTERSON

hortly after her oldest daughter’s birth, an Argyle mom we’ll call Leah got her first taste of the chronic digestive troubles to come. “My daughter had terrible acid reflux,” recalls Leah (who asked to remain anonymous for her daughter’s privacy). “I tried different formulas in an effort S to ease her discomfort. She was put on Zantac as early as she could be, around 5 or 6 months, so she could hold formula down. Once she reached the ‘food eating’ stage and transitioned off formula, it improved, but she had severe food aversions.”

Leah’s little girl would eat only bland foods—“nothing with seasoning and no veggies. Very few fruits,” her mom says. Then, at age 4, Leah’s daughter developed a serious body odor problem. “That really threw me,” Leah recalls. “No way a child should smell that bad. I didn’t realize at the time that both of those things were signs of gut issues.”

Gut issues can have a variety of signs and causes. If your child is suffering, you’re not alone.

A PEDIATRIC EPIDEMIC

“I often joke in my clinic that everyone is constipated until proven otherwise,” says Dr. Alina Olteanu, who practices pediatric integrative medicine at Whole Child Texas in Frisco. “No day goes by when I don’t treat a child or a baby with tummy issues, ranging from infantile colic and feeding difficulties to chronic constipation and chronic abdominal pain.”

Other conditions associated with poor gut health may surprise you: Olteanu lists allergies, asthma, eczema and other skin issues, anxiety, attention difficulties and sleep problems. According to Dr. Constantine Kotsanis, an otolaryngologist who is the medical director for the Kotsanis Institute for Functional Medicine in Grapevine, even autism can be traced back to digestive issues. “Autism spectrum disorders are primarily gut disorders that affect thinking and emotions,” he suggests, adding that “almost every child we see has moderate to severe gut issues.”

So even if your child isn’t showing traditional digestive symptoms, you may benefit from talking to a professional.

“The health of the child starts with healthy nutrition and a healthy gut,” explains Olteanu, who uses both traditional and alternative treatments with the children who come through her office. Some parents whose children have gut problems say they’ve had trouble getting more mainstream pediatric practices to take their concerns seriously.

“Our pediatrician did not believe any issues were serious enough to look into further,” says Leah. “I knew in my heart something was going on and had to go mostly on my own to figure things out. I searched a very long time to find a doctor who would do more than just look my daughter over and say nothing was wrong.” Olteanu has a more optimistic view of the mainstream medical community but notes the full implications of gut health aren’t always understood.

“Lots of pediatricians use probiotic supplements for a variety of common conditions,” she points out. “However, more work needs to be done to increase awareness of the gut-brain connection, especially how stress can affect gut health and how improving nutrition and gut health can have a positive impact on a child’s mood and development.”

Kotsanis advises that gut health be addressed “very aggressively” during a child’s first eight years. “The reason is the fact that 70% of the immune system lives in the gut,” he says. “Also, 80% of brain hormones are made in the gut. A healthy gut influences the brain very positively; an unhealthy gut is reflected in an unhealthy brain.”

GET GUT-HEALTHY

In Leah’s case, it unfortunately seems like her daughter’s initial treatment led to even more trouble. “The doctors I found who actually believed something was going on have agreed this was caused by the use of Zantac at such an early age and for such a long time during the development of her digestive processes.”

Even now, at age 13, Leah’s daughter has lingering gut problems. The teenager has a stalled metabolism; she also has a very limited palate and remains unwilling to try new foods that aren’t bland. But there have been some improvements.

“We discovered a few years ago that the extreme body odor was being caused by milk. At the recommendation of one great doctor”—coincidentally, that was Olteanu—“we removed milk from her diet, and within a week we noticed a significant decrease in the odor. It was amazing, and I felt terrible that I hadn’t thought of that earlier,” shares Leah, who adds that her daughter also has fewer bathroom emergencies. And she has also developed a better understanding of what foods support good digestion.

However your child’s gut issue presents, there are recommendations to ease the problem.

Maintain a healthy lifestyle, emphasizes Olteanu. Don’t underestimate the value of enough sleep, physical activity, fresh air, happy relationships and stress management.

In addition, be thoughtful about what your child eats. Kotsanis says “toxic fast foods, sugar, wheat, corn, soy and milk products” are all causal factors of gut problems.

You can also improve gut health through diet; Olteanu notes that an anti-inflammatory diet can be extremely helpful. The diet’s focal points include fruits, veggies, whole grains, plant-based proteins (beans and nuts) and healthy fats. Stay away from, or minimize, foods that are highly processed, greasy, very sweet or have artificial dyes. “Some additives can act like or become neurotoxins,” warns Olteanu.

Dessert isn’t a complete no-go; it should just be a special treat. “Help your child develop a palate for dark chocolate and fruit-based desserts,” Olteanu suggests. With fruits and veggies, encourage your child to eat a “rainbow”—a variety of colors.

For children who have trouble with cow milk, there are dairy-free alternatives for calcium intake and vitamin D. Talk to your doctor before eliminating any food groups, though.

You can serve fermented foods with natural probiotics, such as pickled veggies and sauerkraut, and prebiotic-rich foods (apples and bananas, to name a couple). And have your children drink water. “Insufficient water intake can slow down everything from cellular function to your metabolism and your ability to fight off infections,” Olteanu says.

While changing an eating regimen is undoubtedly hard, “the anti-inflammatory diet can be enjoyable,” she adds. “But it’s the health benefits and the visual improvement of your child that’s most rewarding.”

Of course, your child doesn’t need to be currently experiencing a gut-related condition for your family to adopt these recommendations. As Olteanu notes, “It’s always much easier to prevent any illness than to treat it.”