Definition: The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) is a diet plan that limits complex carbohydrates. It was developed by Sydney Valentine Haas and Merrill P. Haas in the book The Management of Celiac Disease. The diet is further described in Elaine Gottschall's book, Breaking The Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet. The proponents of this diet claim that it is beneficial for those who have inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), autism, celiac disease, and other intestinal disease.
Currently, there are no randomized controlled trials that have studied the effects of the diet on IBD. This is partly because studying diet is difficult and partly because research is expensive and no person or group has come forward with funding. There is one case report from 2004 in which one woman with ulcerative colitis and one woman with Crohn's disease went on the SCD. Both women showed improvement after a month on the diet.
Source:
Nieves R, Jackson RT. "Specific carbohydrate diet in treatment of inflammatory bowel disease." Tenn Med 2004 Sep;97:407. Oct 6 2010.
