From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira
Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat. For people who’ve had
diverticulosis – development of tiny pockets in the intestine –
foods like popcorn and nuts have been off the menu. Medical
thinking was that small hard things can get lodged in those
pockets, creating irritations that cause infection or bleeding.
But Dr. Lisa Strate and colleagues at Brigham and Women’s
Hospital examined data on that, from a large long-running study
of the health of men. They found no association between the
foods and infection or bleeding. So, co-author Sapna Syngal
says: ``For a large proportion of people out there who know they
have diverticulosis and have been told that they should avoid
these foods, there probably isn’t any reason to do that.’’ (9
seconds) The study in the Journal of the American Medical
Association was supported by HHS’ Agency for Healthcare Research
and Quality, and the National Institutes of Health. Learn more
at hhs.gov. HHS HealthBeat is a production o