The FastDay Forum

After hearing from a couple of people on here who have suffered with gallbladder problems I was just wondering how many of us had or have this problem?. I developed mine after losing weight too quickly.
The subject of gallbladder problems seems to go hand in hand with diets but not a lot is mentioned on dieting forums.

http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddisease ... allstones/

[carorees]

Gallstone removal is one of the commonest surgical operations performed. The biggest risk factors are being female, obesity, rapid weight loss, diabetes and cholesterol lowering drugs. There are two types of gallstone, ones formed from cholesterol (hence the link with obesity, diabetes and cholesterol lowering drugs) and those formed from bilirubin.

With respect to 5:2 fasting, the risk of gallstones with rapid weight loss is another reason we should be happy with 1lb lost per week! Fasting results in fairly high levels of cholesterol circulating in order to provide energy in the absence of food intake. As fasting lowers cholesterol on non-fast days, the overall change is good but fasting too often and with rapid weight loss may increase the risk of gallstones.
If a gallstone blocks the tube that feeds bile from the gallbladder to the intestine it produces these typical symptoms:
* steady pain in the right upper abdomen that increases rapidly and lasts from 30 minutes to several hours
* pain in the back between the shoulder blades
* pain under the right shoulder

If you think you have experienced a gallbladder attack you should consult your doctor. Although these attacks often pass as gallstones move, your gallbladder can become infected and rupture if a blockage remains.

Urgent medical attention is needed if you experience any of the following with a gall-bladder attack:
*prolonged pain—more than 5 hours
*nausea and vomiting
*fever—even low-grade—or chills
*yellowish color of the skin or whites of the eyes
*clay-colored stools

Fatty meals can precipitate an attack so it is best to avoid a high fat diet (such as may be encouraged by low carb diets) and they may occur during the night.

You can reduce the risk of developing gallstones during weightloss by keeping fat down to less than 30% of calorie intake. But too low fats can also cause gallstones to form. Include some fats in your diet, in particular monounsaturated fats (found in olive oil and canola oil), omega-3 fatty acids (found in avocados, canola, flaxseed, and fish oil). Fish oil may be especially beneficial as it helps the gallbladder to empty. High fibre foods also help to reduce risk (vegetables, fruits and whole grains). Although low carb diets are often high in fat, reducing high GI carbs also helps to prevent gallstone formation.

HTH

Really good information caroline, people need to become aware of this issue because I wouldn't wish the pain of gallstones on anyone.

I was idly googling (via google.co.uk) about dieting and I started finding stuff about rapid weight loss and gallstones. Wow I thought these things are not nice and we should discuss them on the forum!

But when I restrict my search to pages from the past year it turns out the 4th link listed is to this very forum and to this thread here, and Caroline has already addressed the question in some depth.
Thanks Caroline, what a !

[carorees]

Thanks Dominic!

I have been finding several topics that have sunk off the top page of their boards but which should be more widely known. I'm loath to create too many stickies. I'm wondering if I should move/copy them into the read first board? This thread for example.

"You can reduce the risk of developing gallstones during weightloss by keeping fat down to less than 30% of calorie intake. But too low fats can also cause gallstones to form."

I'm not convinced about the first part. References ? If more bile is discharged to process more fat in the diet I would expect this to reduce cholesterol saturation levels in the gall bladder.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 4399803945 says "The data suggest that rates of weight loss should not exceed an average of 1.5 kg per week." and "However, among the studies used in this analysis, fat content did not appear to affect the relationship between rate of weight loss and gall-
stone formation."

[carorees]

Thanks Phil...got my info from NHS...should know not to give it too much credence!

Thanks Phil...got my info from NHS...should know not to give it too much credence!

They see everything through low fat glasses, that's the problem. 30 %fat is just their standard line on nutrition.

Thanks Caroline and Phil, improving info is always good. So fat levels in the diet may not be a concern. And I was pleased to see the reference to fish oil being good as I am now taking them. They are particularly beneficial re the gallbladder if you have high triglyceride levels. No I have no idea what that means either.

But that's by the way because none of us doing straight 5:2 should be candidates for gallstones, it's more of a concern for anyone who is trying to push the boat out with more extreme ADF or excessive restricting on feed days.

Regarding making this a sticky, it's a good topic but to be honest I think the stickies are already cluttering things up a bit. Your call. It seems to be an inherent problem with the forum (with all forums I guess) that good stuff gets buried and so quite a lot of 'reinventing the wheel' goes on. As this shows, even 'old hands' like YT forget (if we ever knew) what was posted six weeks ago. Which is why I have regularly encouraged people to use the internal forum searches. And then didn't follow my own advice

I had gallstones develop several years ago. It was from being on a low fat diet. My Dr. said since my fat intake was so low, that the bile just sat there and "stagnated" forming the stones.

I suffered with the pain for several years, until I was able to get health insurance. My first attack, which lead to the discovery, happened one year after Thanksgiving. After that, I never knew what would cause an attack. I could eat a salad and get an attack. It was really random. Most of the time, I could feel them start to "act up", so I would go on a baked potato and crouton diet. That was the only thing I could eat that would not cause pain once they started "acting up".

I finally was able to have it removed in April of last year. It took about a month or so for my body to adjust to not having a gallbladder, but now I have no problems. If you need to have it removed, just be sure and eat a NO fat diet for at least 4 weeks after surgery. This gives your body time to adjust, and then you will be able to carry on as normal.

I had gallstones develop several years ago. It was from being on a low fat diet.

Thanks for that clarification. When I said

fat levels in the diet may not be a concern

I meant to say 'high fat levels...', of course.

Glad you have made a good recovery!

Just bookmarking this for future reference - my mother is being tested for possible gallstones at the minute. She hasn't been dieting, but I know she's overweight and fond of her cheese and chocolate!

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002934399803945 says "The data suggest that rates of weight loss should not exceed an average of 1.5 kg per week." and "However, among the studies used in this analysis, fat content did not appear to affect the relationship between rate of weight loss and gall-
stone formation."

The study was based on 9 (smallish) studies from before 1995, meaning there could be newer and larger studies the NHS base their info on. Agreed with PhilT, is there a reference for their advice on reducing fat intake?

The conclusions regarding the fat content while dieting was based on 6 very low fat diets, compared to one intermediate and one at libitum fat intake (n=69, one study not mentioned but they were all quite small). I'm not sure if that finding is reliable, given the vast variation in background characteristics in a small population.

In the general population, high fiber intake, low saturated fatty acid consumption, and nut consumption are associated with reduced risk of gallstones. Also, moderate physical activity appears to prevent gallstones.

Sorry, Caroline

During prolonged fasting or weight loss, limitation of weight loss to a moderate rate (maximum 1.5 kg/week), addition of 10 g fat to low-calorie diets or UDCA decrease the high risk of gallstones under these circumstances.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1521691806000369
(UCDA, ursodeoxycholic acids)

So rather the type of fat than fat content (and definitely not too little fat), according to this one. Article not dealing with weight loss exclusively.

The study was based on 9 (smallish) studies from before 1995, meaning there could be newer and larger studies the NHS base their info on.

I think I'll file that under "speculation"

The null hypothesis is that high fat diets do not cause gallstones. Anyone find a statistically significant rejection ?

[carorees]

Do the studies you've highlighted differentiate between the two types of gallstones?