Q: After gall bladder removal in 2014, I started having bouts of bad diarrhea leading to nausea and dehydration, and then to the hospital.  I could no longer go to meetings or even shop safely.

Then I remembered reading stories from this column and decided to try coconut cookies. Two Archway Coconut Macaroon cookies a day plus a cup of ginger tea solved most of the problem.  I no longer miss meetings or have to stay at home all the time.  It is not a perfect cure, but it does work well for me and I am grateful to know about it.

A: We have first heard about Archway Coconut macaroon cookies for hard-to-treat diarrhea almost 20 years ago. We suspect that it is the coconut that is working this magic.

A research report presented at the Digestive Disease Week conference in June 2017 supported the role of coconut oil and cocoa butter against intestinal inflammation.  Mice that were fed high-coconut chow had better bacterial ecology in their GI tracts and less inflammation.

Not everyone benefits as much as you do.  That said, some patients with Crohn’s disease have had remarkable success with this simple approach.

• Article by Joe and Teresa Graedon
• Copyright The Seattle Times