Gallstones - What Are Gallstones And How Are They Affected By My Diet?

What are gallstones and how are they affected by dieting? Gallstones are a fairly common condition affecting as many as 1 in 12 Americans. Your gallbladder contains an emulsifying fluid called bile and when one eats, the gallbladder contracts, releasing the bile. The bile is then transported through the common bile duct to the small intestine where it can help break down digested fats.

Now, if one's bile becomes chemically unbalanced then hardened particles of bile pigments, cholesterol, or calcium salts can form, possibly growing to uncomfortable sizes within a few years. However, not all gallstones are painful and can go unnoticed entirely. There are several possible factors that contribute to gallstone formation.

The first of the contributing factors is having too much cholesterol in the bile. Bile already contains fatty compounds and if it contains more than it should then it becomes supersaturated in a sense and begins to form crystals that can then lead to stones. One point that needs to be noted is that blood cholesterol levels are unrelated to bile cholesterol levels. Another factor that can contribute is incomplete gall bladder emptying. If your gallbladder doesn't empty frequently enough or incompletely then your bile can become too concentrated and thus form gallstones. The latter factor is directly related to one's diet. People who eat too infrequently or who commonly skip breakfast will find themselves with gallstone problems since the lack of digestive stimulus fails to trigger contractions from the gall bladder. Even if you do eat a good breakfast every morning, you still might be susceptible to gallstones. There are still other risk factors that need to be addressed before you can most likely be in the clear, so to speak.

First of all, genetics do play a role in gallstones. The do tend to be inherited, but remember, relatives might not be feeling any symptoms. The second determining factor is one's sex. Women between the ages of 20 and 60 are twice as likely to develop gallstones than men. The reason for this is that estrogen causes for greater cholesterol secretion in the bile. Pregnancy can also raise the risk as well. The third determining factor is body weight. The more overweight one becomes, the greater their chances for developing gallstones. Just like the estrogen, excess fat promotes greater cholesterol secretion in the bile, but to compound matters, it also hinders the gallbladder's emptying process too.

The next factor that can contribute is one's diet. Low-calorie, fad diets tend to jar the entire body out of standard procedure, including a disruption of your bile's chemistry and a reduction in gallbladder contractions. Another factor that can also contribute to gallstone development is age. Simply put, the older you are, the greater your chances become for developing gallstones. And lastly, ethnicity has also been shown to play a role in the development of gallstones. Native Americans have the highest incidence of gallstones and Mexican-Americans also have an elevated incidence rate.

As mentioned earlier, you could be living with gallstones and never realize it, but others are not so lucky. Immediate medical advice needs to be sought when you begin to feel sharp, intense pains in your abdomen accompanied with fever and vomiting. While gallstones are clearly not simple to control and prevent, one should still try manage their weight and avoid any sort of crash diets. Nutritionally speaking, try to find a happy medium and maybe that'll be enough of a preventative measure to ensure a healthy bile chemistry.

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