Gall Bladder issues concern all of us, even if you are the paragon of health. Given what is going on in our health care system you would do well to prevent problems that often lead to unnecessary surgery. While it is true that taken it out is the right thing to do in some cases, this radical procedure is overdone, as if the Gall Bladder was not useful at all. Making people aware of why they get Gall Bladder stones and how to prevent the problem is seldom discussed before rushing to surgery. It is as if disrupting proper digestion of food is not important at all. This erroneous conclusion is understandable, in that there are very few immediate repercussions. But, improper digestion of food will surely bring negative consequences in a few years. Think of the proverbial drop of water on a rock.
Last month I saw a patient who was told she needed her Gall Bladder taken out just because it was a “little blurry” on an abdominal CT. There were no stones or symptoms of stones. This is reprehensible, and made worse by the fact that patients are seldom told they will no longer digest food properly and that their gut Microbiome will be altered as time passes. This no doubt contributes to many health problems, including heart disease:
Gallstones and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease: Prospective Analysis of 270 000 Men and Women From 3 US Cohorts and Meta-Analysis
J. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2016;36:1997
Why heart disease? Because Gall Bladder issues and heard disease have two common denominators: insulin resistance and gut flora problems, both of which are mostly due to poor diets high in refined sugars.
Cold-induced conversion of cholesterol to bile acids in mice shapes the gut microbiome and promotes adaptive thermogenesis
J. Nature Medicine 2017;23: 839–849
If you have lost your Gall Bladder take digestive enzymes that have Bile Factors added to them. If not, eat a good diet high in plants.
