December 2022

Your Diet Affects More Than Just Your GI System

You already know that what you eat affects your gut. Now comes a study that suggests your diet can also affect your ability to concentrate and remember things.

The study from Brazil indicated that middle-aged people who ate more ultra-processed foods – white bread, candy bars, cookies, frozen meals, and soda, for example – were modestly more likely to have a decline in their cognitive abilities. Over an eight-year period, adults aged 35-74 who got 20% or more of their daily calories from ultra-processed foods showed a faster rate of:

• Decline in cognitive abilities (thinking, memory, concentration)
• Decline in executive function (the ability to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, multi-task) 

On average, Americans get 58% of their daily calories from ultra-processed foods, much more than the 20% noted in the study. In the U.K. and Canada, the percentage is 48%; in Brazil, 30%.

Overall, this study’s results echoed findings from an earlier study that linked ultra-processed foods with an increased risk of dementia. That study suggested that risk of dementia dropped sharply when swapping junk food for unprocessed or minimally processed foods with no added sugar.

So, how do you swap junk for unprocessed/minimally processed foods?

Eat more of these (look for no added sugars or oils): fresh fruits, veggies, whole grains, fish that’s not breaded or fried, milk and plain yogurt, eggs, and seeds/nuts.

Eat less of or eliminate these: Fried foods, most breakfast cereals, sugary drinks, foods with sweeteners and preservatives, and packaged foods with a list of ingredients you can’t pronounce.

Not only do the above foods negatively affect cognitive ability, they can also wreak havoc on our GI system. Eating more plants can improve digestive health, so be sure to add some more greens to your next meal!

What a Colonoscopy Revealed That the At-Home Test Didn’t 

At 81 years old, Cincinnati GI patient Fran figured she could skip the colonoscopy her doctor recommended. Instead, she opted for the at-home Cologuard test she had seen advertised. She was relieved when the test results indicated she didn’t have cancer. But what it didn’t tell her is that she had a sizeable polyp that could have become cancerous. She learned about that a year later when blood in her stool led her to get the colonoscopy she had hoped to avoid. 

Fran knows she’s lucky – and she’s grateful – that her polyp was caught before it became cancer. She was also grateful to learn that the colonoscopy prep has gotten a lot easier than the last time she had one. Read Fran’s eye-opening story.

Cincinnati GI Ranks High on Newsweek’s 2023 List 

We are pleased to announce that our Anderson Endoscopy Center has been recognized on Newsweek’s list of America’s Best Ambulatory Surgery Centers for the third consecutive year.

The center, owned and operated by Cincinnati GI, is a specialty physician group focused on diagnosing and treating conditions and diseases of the digestive tract. Only 510 of the more than 5,000 Medicare-certified ambulatory surgery centers earn this ranking which is based on recommendations by medical professionals and performance data.

Congratulations to the physicians and staff at the Anderson Endoscopy Center for keeping Cincinnati GI on the national map!

Beating the Odds: A Smart New Approach to Colonoscopy Screenings 

Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), colonoscopy screenings just became smarter. 

Cincinnati GI’s Anderson Endoscopy Center is the first and only endoscopy center or hospital in the Greater Cincinnati area to offer AI-assisted colonoscopies with our October addition of the GI Genius™ intelligent endoscopy module. 

GI Genius is a “smart” technology that analyzes what endoscopists view in real-time, working with the existing scope to instantly flag potential abnormalities or precancerous polyps for assessment during a colonoscopy. In studies, AI-assisted colonoscopies positively identified 100% of lesions. 

Even better, this new addition to the screening process requires no additional time or patient prep and does not impact insurance coverage.

“With colorectal cancers on the rise, particularly among younger patients, it’s important that we make a preemptive strike by using the most advanced diagnostic solution on the market,” said Greg Schooler, Cincinnati GI’s chief operating officer.

If you are over age 45 (or younger with a family history of colon cancer) get out in front of this disease the smart way by scheduling your routine screening. 

Dr. Lam Earns FACG Fellowship

Gregory Lam, DO has just become a Fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology (FACG). This fellowship is an honor that recognizes significant professional achievement and superior competence.

Dr. Lam is also a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. Being an FACP is a distinction earned from colleagues who recognize a physician’s accomplishments and achievements over and above the practice of medicine. The most important considerations for ACP Fellowship are excellence and contributions made to both medicine and to the broader community in which the internist lives and practices. Congratulations, Dr. Lam!