Emmerdale’s Jeff Hordley keeping disease that affects 115k Brits at bay with simple change

Jeff Hordley has revealed that he’s managed to keep his chronic disease in check by making a simple change to his lifestyle.

The 54-year-old, best known for playing Cain Dingle in the much-loved ITV soap Emmerdale, opened up about his battle with Crohn’s disease and how he manages to “avoid any medication”.

The NHS says Crohn’s disease is a long-term bowel condition characterised by parts of the digestive system becoming inflamed. It’s a lifelong condition that falls under the umbrella of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Speaking in an episode of the Another Day Another Collar podcast, the show’s host, Steve Mann, asked the actor if he was still an ambassador for Crohn’s disease.

Jeff replied: “Crohn’s; no, I’m not anymore, but I was for years because I’ve had Crohn’s since I was 24, 25, and I’ve now managed to keep it under wraps because of diet.”

He continued: “Certainly, like you were saying about, we eat very much seasonally; we eat from our allotment, from definitely June through to now.

“So that’s how I’ve managed to do it and exercise and things like that. I’ve managed to avoid any medication, which not every Crohn’s sufferer manages to do, but that’s the way I’ve managed it.

Jeff added that people look for “quick fixes” rather than looking at things “holistically”. Instead of taking note of their rest, exercise, and what they are “putting” into their bodies, he said they ask for a tablet, something he described as the “modern way.”

The NHS says Crohn’s is one of the two main types of inflammatory bowel disease alongside ulcerative colitis, with IBD collectively impacting more than 500,000 people across the UK. Crohn’s itself is believed to affect around 115,000 people in the UK, according to figures from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

Jeff was diagnosed with Crohn’s after he sadly lost his mother, who also had the condition, and he went on to be an advocate who campaigned to raise awareness.

While on an episode of Loose Women, his wife, Zoe, opened up about her husband’s fight with the condition, saying it “changed [their] lives” and that Jeff was concerned it would prevent him from pursuing a career in acting.

Speaking as an ambassador for Crohn’s and Colitis UK, Jeff said: “You are not alone if you are suffering from Crohn’s or Colitis… although sometimes you might feel as if you are.”

Symptoms of Crohn’s include diarrhoea, stomach aches, blood in your poo, fatigue and weight loss, with a flare-up potentially being either constant or intermittent.

The health service says you should visit your doctor if you notice poo in your blood, experience diarrhoea for more than seven days, have constant cramps or aches in your stomach, lose weight for no apparent reason, or your child isn’t growing as you’d expect.