Food blogger Natasha Diddee's death: What is Dumping Syndrome ...

Natasha Diddee spent almost ten years living without a stomach while working as a chef and author. Image Courtesy: Natasha Diddee/Facebook

Food blogger Natasha Diddee, also known as ‘The Gutless Foodie’ on Instagram, passed away on Sunday, 24 March in Pune. She was 50.

The news of her passing was confirmed by her husband on the photo-sharing platform.

“It is with great pain and sorrow that I am forced to announce the sad and heartbreaking passing of my wife, Natasha Diddee, aka The Gutless Foodie,” her husband wrote.

“The Instagram account @thegutlessfoodie will be kept alive and open since I know her posts and stories inspire a lot of people and many of her followers frequently come back for her recipes and the published content continues to serve as a source of inspiration for many,” he added.

She spent almost ten years living without a stomach while working as a chef and author.

“Lost my entire stomach to stress,” her bio reads.

Although the precise reason of her death is unknown, she stated in prior interviews that tumours that had grown in her stomach need removal.

In addition, she experienced symptoms including nausea, dizziness, and fatigue after eating.

In essence, these signs and symptoms relate to a disease known as Dumping Syndrome.

Here’s what it means.

What is dumping syndrome?

Dumping syndrome, sometimes called rapid gastric emptying, is a medical disorder in which food enters the small intestine quickly after consumption.

The Quint claims that a person with this condition immediately feels the need to use the toilet after eating.

People who have had surgery on their stomach or any place around the oesophagus are typically affected, as per Moneycontrol.

Dumping syndrome comes in two flavours: early and late, as per Healthline.

Early dumping occurs 10–30 minutes after a meal and late dumping happens one to three hours after eating.

What exactly happens in this syndrome?

The stomach naturally moves its contents into the small intestine gradually and under control. “Gastric motility” refers to how our stomach transfers food through the digestive process, as per News9.

While muscles, nerves, and hormone signals work in unison to determine when and how your stomach should empty, there are other mechanisms involved in gastric motility. This cooperation may be disrupted if any of these are damaged.

Times Now explained further that the pyloric valve opens as a result of uncontrollably emptying your stomach, expelling everything before your stomach has finished digesting. The small intestine tries to make room for this quantity of partially digested food by producing more hormones and pulling in more fluid volume.

The symptoms that people feel right after eating are brought on by these modifications.

What are its symptoms?

Symptoms of early dumping syndrome include nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramping, diarrhoea, bloating or feeling uncomfortably full, flushing of the face, sweating, dizziness, and fast heart rate.

While symptoms of late dumping syndrome, caused by low blood sugar, are dizziness, weakness, sweating, hunger, fast heart rate, fatigue, confusion, and shaking.

Some people might have both early and late symptoms.

How common is it?

The John Hopkins Medical Centre reports that three out of every 20 patients who have undergone any kind of stomach surgery experience dumping syndrome.

The report by Times Now quoted experts as saying that while dumping syndrome is not dangerous or fatal in most cases, a severe case might result in fast weight loss and nutritional deficits.

75 per cent of the people with dumping syndrome have early type of dumping.

How is it treated?

Treatment for dumping syndrome varies.

A doctor might recommend one or more treatments ranging from medication, dietary changes, and sometimes surgery.

Dietary solutions include eating smaller meals instead of three big meals, avoiding sugary foods, including more protein and fibre, and adding pectin or guar gum to food to thicken it, according to Heathline.

With inputs from agencies