Healthmad » gallstones http://healthmad.com Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:44:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 How to Avoid Gallstones http://healthmad.com/conditions-and-diseases/how-to-avoid-gallstones/ http://healthmad.com/conditions-and-diseases/how-to-avoid-gallstones/#comments Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:54:20 +0000 Kristie Leong MD http://healthmad.com/conditions-and-diseases/how-to-avoid-gallstones/ Gallstones aren’t a laughing matter. They can cause excruciating pain and can even be life threatening when they cause inflammation of the pancreas. They’re also quite common with up to twenty-five million people being affected. If you’re concerned about your risk, here are some preventative steps you can take to avoid gallstones altogether:

Watch Your Weight

To avoid gallstones, keep your weight around its ideal. Obese and overweight people are almost twice as likely to develop gallstones as their fit and trim counterparts. Loosing weight can help you reduce your risk of gallstones, but be careful! Rapid weight loss can have the opposite effect, increasing your risk for gallstones.

Exercise

Not only does exercise reduce your risk of gallstones by keeping you slim, it helps to stimulate gastrointestinal motility which may have a protective effect against gallstones. To avoid gallstones, get thirty minutes of vigorous exercise at least three to four times per week.

Watch Your Diet

Diet may play a key role in the prevention of gallstones. Studies suggest that eating a low fat, low cholesterol diet may reduce your chances of developing this common disease. Cholesterol plays a key role in the formation of gallstones in susceptible individuals and it appears that limiting fats and cholesterol in the diet may prevent formation of these painful stones. Eating a low fat, low cholesterol diet also helps to keep weight under control which is known to reduce the risk of gallstones.

Eat More Fiber

A high fiber intake can help to lower levels of cholesterol. Gallstones form when excess cholesterol in bile precipitates out and hardens to form stones. A diet rich in fiber can help to flush out excess cholesterol and bile acids which might otherwise form painful gallstones.

Drink Coffee

Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1999 showed that men who drink two to three cups of coffee per day were forty percent less likely to develop gallstones. Additional research conducted in 2000, failed to show this association so it’s still unclear whether coffee can help reduce the risk of gallstones.

The Role of Alcohol

It appears that consumption of moderate amounts of alcohol may reduce the risk of gallstones. Plus, the protective effect is seen with all types of alcohol including wine, beer, and liquor. It’s important that alcohol intake not be excessive as this can precipitate other health problems including liver disease.

It’s reassuring to know that there are all-natural lifestyle changes you can make to avoid gallstones. Plus, taking these steps may help to improve you health in general.

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