iThei mdcdaelcinfd o c elllllrllll o tclhdfliThei mdcdaePolysaccharides (multiple sugar molecules bound together)
• Amylose
• Amylopectin
• Found in potatoes, rice, wheat, and corn
• Need to be split by brush border enzymes to be absorbed
Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD)
The oldest and most well-known monosaccharide diet is the Specific
Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). It was originally designed in the 1920s by a
physician named Sydney Haas. This diet was used for overcoming celiac
disease but fell out of favor once gluten was identified as a trigger. The
diet re-emerged after Elaine Gottschall, MS—a biochemist and mother
of a child who was helped by this diet—published a book titled Breaking
the Vicious Cycle.
Gottschall proposed adapting a Specific Carbohydrate Diet, which re-
moves starchy carbohydrates like those found in beans, potatoes, and
most grains.
People with digestive difficulties have a compromised gut flora. The theory
behind the diet is that under normal conditions, sucrose and other mul-
tiple-sugar molecules are broken down by brush border enzymes into the
single sugars glucose and fructose, but this does not happen when the flora
is compromised. Instead, the villi are so damaged the molecules do not get
broken down. Since the body can only absorb single sugars, the molecule is
not absorbed and becomes food for pathogenic gut flora, resulting in gas,
toxicity, and more pathogenic bacteria, thus creating a “vicious cycle,” as
the title of the book proposes.
The SCD excludes polysaccharides/disaccharides (starches) for about a
year and recommends the use of homemade lactose-free yogurt. After
this diet is followed for at least one year, the villi regenerate and the
person regains digestive function, eventually being able to tolerate foods
forbidden on the diet.
The diet kicks off with an introduction diet that starts with easy-to-digest
foods and progresses to more difficult textures over time.
SCD Legal Foods: meat, nuts, most vegetables, fermented foods, seeds,
eggs, properly soaked beans, most fruit.