Selected Aspects of Nutrition in the Prevention and Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Abstract

Inflammatory bowel disease has become a global health problem at the turn of the 21st century. The pathogenesis of this disorder has not been fully explained. In addition to non-modifiable genetic factors, a number of modifiable factors such as diet or gut microbiota have been identified. In this paper, the authors focus on the role of nutrition in the prevention of inflammatory bowel disease as well as on the available options to induce disease remission by means of dietary interventions such as exclusive and partial enteral nutrition in Crohn’s disease, the efficacy of which is reported to be comparable to that of steroid therapy. Diet is also important in patients with inflammatory bowel disease in the remission stage, during which some patients report irritable bowel disease-like symptoms. In these patients, the effectiveness of diets restricting the intake of oligo-, di-, monosaccharides, and polyols is reported.