I am not talking about the desire to travel but that unfortunate bug that takes up residence in your intestinal system. Know as "Montezuma's revenge" in the Mayan world and "Delhi Belly" in India, it is usually a bacterial infection that results in stomach cramps and diarrhea.

There are some good basic steps to minimising the risk of catching it, like

- Only eat food that is freshly cooked, nothing raw
- Don't have ice in your drinks
- Only eat fruit that you can peel yourself, bananas, oranges etc
- Don't touch your food, remember that your hands are as dirty as the surroundings.

These steps only minimise the risk and often it strikes anyway. The conventional wisdom, when it strikes, is to lay off the food and stick to a bland diet of clear liquids and simple carbohydrates, like crackers, toast without butter. This is the diet that has proved effective when treating children who, as part of growing up, often pick up gastrointestinal infections.

New research by Dr. Herbert DuPont, a professor at the University of Texas Houston Health Science Center has found that it is a quite unnecessary approach when dealing with these third world travel related bouts. His research shows that continuing to eat those tacos and chilli (or firey curries) has no impact on recovery time. Because it is usually a bacterial infection antibiotics are important as is a high fluid intake but starving yourself is counter productive. He says

The intestinal tract has been injured. It needs to grow back and needs to be provided with calories.

Dr. Charles Ericsson, Head of Clinical Infectious Diseases at University of Texas Houston Medical School agrees

The contamination in food is like rolling dice. It is more important to accept some risk of diarrhea rather than starve

With no scientific basis but lots of anecdotal evidence The Green Man has found a high yoghurt intake particularly effective in these cases on the premise that flooding your system with "good bacteria" leaves less available resources for the "bad bacteria".

Read more here.