Why liquid diet before colonoscopy

Philadelphia, Pa. Accessed June 1, Eating hints: Before, during, and after cancer treatment. National Cancer Institute. Zeratsky KA expert opinion. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. June 2, See also Mediterranean diet Butter or margarine: Which is healthier? Butter vs. Fasting diet: Can it improve my heart health? Gluten sensitivity and psoriasis: What's the connection? Gluten-free diet Glycemic index diet Gout diet: What's allowed, what's not Grocery store secret: Shop the perimeter Slide show: Heart-healthy eating after acute coronary syndrome How plant-based food helps fight cancer Improve brain health with the MIND diet Intermittent fasting Is gluten-free a healthy way to eat?

Is the keto diet for you? Show more related content. Mayo Clinic Press Check out these best-sellers and special offers on books and newsletters from Mayo Clinic. Reprint Permissions A single copy of these materials may be reprinted for noncommercial personal use only. Having a broad range of options on hand will help you stick to your diet. Some options that may be OK to drink on your clear liquid diet include the following clear liquids and some light-color drinks:.

If you have any questions or if you are unsure whether or not a food or drink is approved, ask your doctor. Remember, it is always better to be safe rather than sorry. The day of the colonoscopy procedure — As on the previous day, clear liquid foods only.

Don't eat or drink anything two hours before the procedure. The afternoon or evening before the colonoscopy, drink a liquid that will trigger bowel-clearing diarrhea. The exact colonoscopy prep instructions depend on the bowel prep your doctor prefers, the time of your colonoscopy, and any prior experience you've had with colon preps if one didn't work before, you'll likely be prescribed a different one.

You can read about some common bowel preparations approved by the American Gastroenterological Association, American College of Gastroenterology, and American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. Contact your clinician to discuss the one that is best for you. Preparing for a colonoscopy may be uncomfortable and time-consuming, but it needn't be an ordeal. Here are some things you can do to help it go as smoothly and comfortably as possible:. As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content.

Please note the date of last review or update on all articles. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician. Thanks for visiting. Don't miss your FREE gift. And colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of U. But the death rate has been falling for several decades, in part because of screening by colonoscopy, which can find colorectal polyps and remove then before they have a chance to progress to cancer.

Those polyps are pretty common--a third of Americans over age 65 have them, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration, part of the Department of Health and Human Services. Colonoscopy also can detect early cancers, improving the chance of recovery. In a draft document posted last October, the U. Preventive Services Task Force reaffirmed its recommendation that adults at average risk of developing colorectal cancer get screened beginning at age 50 and continuing until age The clear liquids mantra stems from the need to make sure that nothing obstructs the doctor's view during the colonoscopy, which would kind of defeat its purpose.

But requiring clear liquids might also contribute to the fact that screening for colorectal cancer lags behind screening for other cancers. In , more than one in four Americans 50 to 75 had never been screened for colorectal cancer, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Many people find that preparing for a colonoscopy--subsisting on only clear liquids and drinking a large quantity of a bowel-cleansing solution or taking special laxatives--is worse than the procedure itself.

Patient dissatisfaction spurred him to examine whether a clear liquid diet before a colonoscopy was really necessary, Samarasena said.