Inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, microscopic colitis, lymphocytic colitis, collagenous colitis, leaky gut, irritable bowel syndrome, celiac disease – a long list of some of the different ailments and diseases that can occur in the intestine. Complications in diagnosing and treating these conditions, that often have a chronic inflammatory component, is due to that:
a) the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms are poorly known,
b) several unknown sub-diseases or disease variants likely exist,
c) the causes can be multifactorial, and,
d) the diagnostic methods are often invasive and not always diseases-specific.
So, there is a lot for us scientists to do, even if we know that the old saying “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” holds a lot of truth.
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