Chronic Intestinal Disorders in Humans and Pets: Current Management and the Potential of Nutraceutical Antioxidants as Alternatives

Abstract

Chronic intestinal disorders (CID) are characterized by persistent, or recurrent gastrointestinal (GI) signs present for at least three weeks. In human medicine, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of chronic GI diseases and includes Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). On the other hand, the general term chronic enteropathies (CE) is preferred in veterinary medicine. Different therapeutic approaches to these diseases are used in both humans and pets. This review is focused on the use of traditional therapies and nutraceuticals with specific antioxidant properties, for the treatment of CID in humans and animal patients. There is strong evidence of the antioxidant properties of the nutraceuticals included in this review, but few studies report their use for treating CID in humans and none in animals. Despite this fact, the majority of the nutraceuticals described in the present article could be considered as promising alternatives for the regular treatment of CID in human and veterinary medicine.

Keywords

• inflammatory bowel disease
• ulcerative colitis
• chronic enteropathies
• phytocomplex
• trace elements
• vitamins