Many people have diverticulosis but are not aware of it… Diverticulosis occurs when the outer layer of the large intestine (colon) weakens and give way in many spots, and the inner lining bulges outwards in pouches or sacs. (It is like the inner tube that protrudes out through holes on the walls of a worn-out tire.) In 10% to 25% of people who are suffering from it, the pouches ruptures and become infected and inflamed — a condition called diverticulitis. (What’s the difference between diverticulosis and diverticulitis.) Like many other colon-related problems, diverticular disease is common in English-speaking, Western countries. But it is extremely rare in Asia and Africa. According to Medicinenet.com, “Diverticular disease is common in the Western world but is extremely rare in areas such as Asia and Africa.” The Wikipedia online encyclopedia website goes further by identifying these Western nations: “About 10% of the US population over the age of 40 and half over the age of 60 has diverticulosis. This disease is common in the US, England, Australia, Canada, and is uncommon in Asia and Africa.” The statistical data indicates that everyone (living in the West) would be affected by diverticulosis sooner or later: “… Almost everyone over age 80 (in the West) have diverticulosis.” — Medical College of Wisconsin Diverticulosis and Sitting Toilets For 20 long years, the underlying cause of diverticulosis — the use of sitting toilets — had all along been confirmed by research. Dr B. A. Sikirov, the Israeli physician who did extensive clinical research on the use of squatting to treat hemorrhoids in 1987, had also looked into diverticulosis.
This was what he found [Etiology and Pathogenesis of Diverticulosis Coli: A New Approach; Medical Hypotheses, May 1988; 26(1):17-20]: “Colonic diverticulosis develops as a result of excessive straining at defecation due to habitual bowel emptying in a sitting posture, which is typical of Western man.” “The magnitude of straining during habitual bowel emptying in a sitting posture is at least three-fold more than in a squatting posture and upon urge. The latter (squatting) defecation posture is typical of latrine pit users in underdeveloped nations.” Dr Sikirov went on to explain the consequences of sitting for waste evacuation: “The bowels of Western man are subjected to lifelong excessive pressures which result in protrusions of mucosa through the bowel wall at points of least resistance. This hypothesis is consistent with recent findings of elastosis of the bowel wall muscles, the distribution of diverticula along the colon, as well as with epidemiological data on the emergence of diverticulosis coli as a medical problem and its geographic prevalence.
