Bland diets are often recommended following stomach or intestinal surgery, or for people with conditions such as ulcers, acid reflux (GERD), gastritis, heartburn, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, gastroenteritis and gas.
A bland diet is designed primarily to help patients recover from gastrointestinal conditions or other medical circumstances in which improved digestion would be essential.
Mild dairy foods may soothe irritated linings, but excessive fats, cocoa and spices can have the opposite effect.
In a strict bland food diet, softer protein sources such as smooth peanut butter, eggs and tofu are encouraged over any type of fibrous or seasoned meat.
[4][5][clarification needed] The diet was first discussed in 1926 and was once recommended for people, particularly children, with gastrointestinal distress like vomiting, diarrhea, or gastroenteritis.
[6] The BRAT diet is no longer routinely recommended to those who have had stem cell transplants and have diarrhea due to graft-versus-host disease, as long-term use can lead to nutritional deficiencies.
Even though milk and other dairy products are permissible in a bland diet, consumption may interfere with the homeostatic processes involved in digestion; prominently for peptic ulcer patients.
In an early study, milk was found to have a short-lived gastric acid neutralising effect; which may lead to milk-alkali syndrome and eventually arteriosclerotic heart disease if dietary intake is excessive and uncontrolled.
[12] Due to severe dehydration caused by both diarrhea and gastroenteritis, bland diets should be combined oral rehydration therapy to replace the depleted electrolytes and avoid salt imbalance.