engleski

Dietary patterns in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Introduction: Dietary patterns have been recognized as one of the environmental triggers for inflammatory bowel diseases. Dietary antigens, alteration of the gut microbiome and changes in gastrointestinal permeability can influence intestinal inflammation. However, evidence based dietary guidelines for patients with inflammatory bowel disease have not been available to patients. Previous studies have shown that patients are aware of the effects that diet can have on relieving symptoms or inducing remission. Therefore, the aim of our study was to evaluate dietary patterns of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Methods: A cross-sectional survey based study was carried out at the University Hospital of Split. In total, 30 patients with ulcerative colitis and 30 patients with Crohn’s disease were included in the present study. Survey gathered socio-demographic data, questioned patients’ dietary patterns as well as their attitudes about diet with reference to their disease. Results: Almost all of the patients considered diet important in life in general (98.3%), while 86.7% of patients considered diet important with reference to their disease (96.7% with ulcerative colitis vs. 76.7% with Crohn’s disease, P=0.052). Furthermore, 81.7% patients considered that their symptoms can be reduced with proper diet. Patients rated the importance of diet with an average grade of 4.2±1.0 on a 5-point scale. As many as 91.7% of patients reported getting advice about diet from their physician, while only 16.7% of patients consulted a nutritionist. Internet was a source of information about diet for 86.7% of our patients. All of patients with ulcerative colitis agreed that educational programs about diet would be useful to them, while 80% of patients with Crohn’s disease agreed with this statement (P=0.024). Overall, 85% of patients would visit such programs. Discussion / Conclusion: Results of this study suggest that patients with IBD consider diet important in their disease management and should be provided with evidence based counseling.

dietary patterns ; inflammatory bowel disease

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