People with PKU need to follow a diet that limits foods with phenylalanine. The diet should be followed carefully and be started as soon after birth as possible. In the past, experts believed that it was safe for people to stop following the diet as they got older. However, they now recommend that people with PKU stay on the diet throughout their lives for better physical and mental health.
Category Archives: Other Health Problems
Swallowing Problems – Dysphagia
Dysphagia means difficulty with chewing or swallowing food or liquid. To understand how this might happen, it is important to know something about how swallowing occurs.
What are swallowing disorders?
Swallowing disorders, also called dysphagia (dis-FAY-juh), can occur at different stages in the swallowing process:
- Oral phase – sucking, chewing, and moving food or liquid into the throat
- Pharyngeal phase – starting the swallowing reflex, squeezing food down the throat, and closing off the airway to prevent food or liquid from entering the airway (aspiration) or to prevent choking
- Esophageal phase – relaxing and tightening the openings at the top and bottom of the feeding tube in the throat (esophagus) and squeezing food through the esophagus into the stomach
Lupus and Nutrition
There are no foods that cause lupus or that can cure it. Still, good nutrition is an important part of an overall treatment plan for the disease. In general, people with lupus should aim for a well-balanced diet that includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. It should also include moderate amounts of meats, poultry, and oily fish. If you have lupus, following a varied, healthy diet may help:
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reduce inflammation and other symptoms
- maintain strong bones and muscles
- combat the side effects of medications
- achieve or maintain a healthy weight
- reduce the risk of heart disease
Here’s what you need to know about lupus, diet, and nutrition to gain these important benefits.
Diet for Gout
Following a gout diet can help you limit your body’s uric acid production and increase its elimination. It’s not likely to lower the uric acid concentration in your blood enough to treat your gout without medication, but it may help decrease the number of attacks and limit their severity. Following the gout diet and limiting your calories — particularly if you also add in moderate daily exercise, such as brisk walking — also can improve your overall health by helping you achieve and maintain a healthy weight.