What is the Best Diet for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)?

Do you have Crohn’s disease or Ulcerative colitis or have a family member/friend with either of these diseases?  If yes, you might want to check out this article where Dr. Saurabh (Seth) Sethi will discuss the best diet for these conditions.

Follow an elimination diet if you have Crohn’s disease or Ulcerative colitis. 

An elimination diet involves removing food from the diet for a period of time and seeing whether symptoms resolve during that time. Many patients can identify foods that they believe may precipitate or worsen their disease and it is reasonable for them to avoid such foods. Using an elimination diet to identify at-risk foods may decrease the possibility of a “flare” of Crohn’s disease or Ulcerative colitis.

Many studies provide support for this treatment approach of the Elimination diet.

• One clinical trial compared the use of steroids versus an elimination diet in 78 patients who were in remission. Patients were instructed to introduce one new food group daily and to avoid foods that they knew previously resulted in precipitating their flare symptoms. Relapse rates at two years were lower in the diet-treated than in the steroid-treated group (62 versus 79 percent).
• In another study, 27 patients with CD who obtained clinical remission after 4 weeks of enteral feeding were followed for 36 months. 20 of the patients were placed on an elimination diet, while the remaining patients were continued on an unrestricted diet. Of the 14 patients who were on the elimination diet, 3 relapsed. Of the 11 patients eating a regular diet, 9 relapsed.

Lactose elimination i.e. avoidance of milk and milk products can be particularly helpful.

Lactose intolerance is frequently noted in patients with IBD. Patients with suggestive symptoms like excessive gas and bloating should undergo a lactose breath hydrogen test to confirm the diagnosis.

 If you would like to share which dietary changes work best for you, please leave a comment. For more information and tips on gut health/diet/nutrition/fitness, check out Dr. Sethi’s blog

References:

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=7901473
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=1909583