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A prospective, randomized, controlled, exploratory study of comprehensive dietary advice in ulcerative colitis:
Moe H Kyaw1, Tetyana Moshkovska, John Mayberry
1Digestive Diseases Centre, University Hospitals of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
Objectives:
The impact of food on relapse in ulcerative colitis has not been clearly defined. The aim of this prospective, randomized-controlled study was to evaluate the impact of comprehensive dietary guidelines on the clinical course of the disease and quality of life in patients with ulcerative colitis.
Materials And Methods:
Patients were allocated randomly to an intervention or a control group. Participants in the intervention group were provided dietary guidelines in the form of an educational booklet that was recommended for use for 4-6 weeks during disease flare, that patients eat little and often (four to six times a day), drink adequate fluids, decrease excess intake of fat, decrease simple carbohydrates and decrease high-fibre foods during flare.Validated and study-designed questionnaires were used to compare patients' perceived quality of life, colitis activity scores and eating habits before and following the dietary advice provided.
Results:
Overall, 112 patients completed the study. Study participants were asked to complete the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire and Simple Clinical Colitis Activity Index together with the Food Frequency Questionnaire at 0, 6 and 24 weeks. At 24 weeks, there was a mean reduction in the Simple Clinical Colitis Activity Index score in the intervention group compared with an increase in the score in the control group [-1.304 (P=0.0108) vs. 0.875 (P=0.0249)]. There was a mean increase in the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire score in the intervention group compared with a reduction in the score in the control group [7.17 (P=0.126) vs. -3.44 (P=0.205)]. A total of 69% of patients in the intervention group found the dietary advice significantly or moderately helpful.
Conclusion:
The study suggests that there is likely to be a link between the dietary advice provided and symptomatic improvement. The effect of diet may not occur through the addition or the elimination of single nutrients; rather, each food consumed combines many nutrients that allow for a synergistic or an antagonistic action when present in a certain composition.
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