Review article: diet and inflammatory bowel disease--epidemiology and treatment

Diet is thought to have an important role in the immunopathogenesis and treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

To identify dietary constituents as risk factors for development of IBD and the therapeutic efficacy of dietary modifications or enteral nutrition in IBD.

The Medline and the Cochrane Library were searched for clinical trials and meta-analyses in the scope of diet and nutrition in IBD.

There are many studies in small cohorts of patients that claim that intake of certain diet constituents like fat, refined sugar, fruits, vegetables and fibre affect the expression of IBD. These are often compromised by insufficient data or methodological limitations and do not provide unequivocal evidence to incriminate any particular dietary factor. Among various dietary interventions, none has shown striking efficacy with the possible exception of complete enteral nutrition. Enteral nutrition appears effective in both active and quiescent Crohn's disease (CD), but independent meta-analyses have shown enteral nutrition to be inferior to corticosteroids in the management of active CD, when assessed on an intention-to-treat basis.

The current levels of knowledge concerning dietary risk factors for IBD, and the therapeutic efficacy of dietary and nutritional interventions need to be supported by well-designed trials in large cohorts of patients.