India and in particular South India is facing increasing incidences of gastrointestinal diseases, said Dr Naveen Polavvarapu, Gastroenterologist, from Hyderabad said on May 5.

We have a very peculiar situation, on one hand we are still facing malnutrition and infections like food poisoning, diarrhea, malabsorption, tuberculosis and on the other we are seeing increasing number of chronic diseases like Irritable bowel syndrome, Inflammatory bowel disease like crohns and ulcerative colitis and also gastrointestinal cancers, Dr Naveen said in a release. Excessive alcohol consumption, sedentary life style, increasing diabetes has also seen rapid increasing incidence of liver and Pancreatic diseases too.

One of the common gastrointestinal conditions which is on the rise off late and a cause for concern is the ‘Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)’, the expert said that we are seeing a gradual increase among young patients, in the age group of 22-40 years, seeking medical help for IBS. Population based studies estimate that IBS is seen in at least 20 per cent of general population and of which, approximately only 20 per cent seek medical help. It is estimated that 20-50 per cent of gastrointestinal consultations relate to this symptom complex, the Gastroenterologist said .

Most common symptoms of IBS are abdominal pain or discomfort or cramps associated with excessive gas formation, flatulence, belching, bloating and either diarrhea and/or constipation, he revealed IBS is not a disease; it's a functional disorder, where the bowel doesn't work or function correctly. Treatment of IBS is essentially excluding other serious gastrointestinal conditions and working on lifestyle changes. This includes small but frequent meals, identifying the food that triggers the symptoms and keeping them to minimum but at the same time ensuring adequate balanced diet is taken.

One of the other most common reasons for IBS is stress and hence distressing is one of the prime treatments for IBS. These are easier said than done but unless the root causes of these triggers are identified and addressed the IBS can debilitate the quality of life, he said. The other gastrointestinal disease, which is on the rise in India, is ‘Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)’, which includes two diseases, Ulcerative colitis and Crohns disease, Dr Naveen said.

IBD was once considered the disease of the west and developed countries, but recently there has been big surge in the incidence is south East Asian countries and in particular in India, he said India has over 12 lakh cases of 'inflammatory bowel disease' annually but very few people are even aware of the seriousness and symptoms of the disease. Often IBD is a disease of the young which is not only a debilitating disease but also effects their prime age, he said turmeric, a regular ingredient in the Indian diet, is no longer a part of it because of the western diet. Turmeric has lot of antioxidants and would prevent inflammatory diseases like IBD, clostrdium difficile diseases.