Anti-Inflammatory Diet Shows Promise in Healing IBD Symptoms and Causes 

Diet has long been studied as a component of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) because certain food items can make symptoms worse for some patients and because the disease can impede the body’s ability to absorb essential vitamins, nutrients, and minerals. Thus, IBD researchers have a pretty good handle on which food items tend to cause problems for IBD patients and on the best means for ensuring that IBD patients receive the important nutritional components that IBD tends to inhibit. However, dietary approaches to address either of these issues remain limited because the disease and its symptoms affect each patient so differently.     

In recent years, researchers have also increased their attention on determining whether diet can be utilized as an actual treatment for IBD beyond just reducing symptoms and ensuring adequate nutritional intake. Initial clinical trials studying diet as a treatment for IBD have shown some positive results and are serving to drive further research into this therapeutic approach. A recent study by University of Massachusetts Medical School researchers suggests that an anti-inflammatory diet may provide therapeutic benefits for IBD patients, and calls for additional research into this treatment avenue.

This pre-clinical trial study—“An anti-inflammatory diet as treatment for inflammatory bowel disease: a case series report”—examined Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis patients who followed an AID diet that restricted specific carbohydrates, while emphasizing the intake of pre- and probiotic foods, along with modified fatty acids. Twenty-four of the 40 IBD patients who followed the diet responded positively, while three had mixed results, and 13 failed to follow the diet. Eleven patients who continued the research by following the diet for another 4 weeks were able to discontinue at least one medication and saw a noticeable reduction in symptoms.

The goal of the IBD anti-inflammatory diet was to decrease the “frequency and severity of flares” and to achieve and maintain remission from the disease. Researchers believed this could be achieved by using diet to alter gut bacterial flora, reducing certain carbohydrates believed to encourage the growth of IBD-causing gut bacteria. The five basic components of the study’s IBD-AID diet focused on: 

• Modification of the intake of certain carbohydrates (lactose and refined complex carbohydrates).
• Ingestion of pre- and probiotics (including soluble fiber, leeks, onions, and fermented foods) to restore intestinal flora balance.
• Distinguishing saturated, trans, mono- and polyunsaturated fats.
• A thorough review of overall dietary patterns to determine potential missing nutrients and identify primary food intolerances. 
• Patient-specific modification of food texture to improve the absorption of nutrients and minimize intact fiber. 

In general, the IBD-AID diet used by the researchers included “lean meats, poultry, fish, omega-3 eggs, particular sources of carbohydrate, select fruits and vegetables, nut and legume flours, limited aged cheeses (made with active cultures and enzymes), fresh cultured yogurt, kefir, miso and other cultured products (rich with certain probiotics) and honey.” The diet was tailored to each patient based on the IBD symptoms experienced at the diet’s onset. Additionally, food items were texturized according to each patient’s specific symptoms. As symptoms improved, patients progressed to more whole-food items, though always within the dictates of the diet guidelines.

Overall, researchers concluded that some IBD patients will definitely benefit from an IBD anti-inflammatory diet, both with a reduction in symptoms and a reduced need to utilize medicines. The researchers attributed the positive results in their patients to the effects of their dietary changes on gut flora. Because IBD appears to be triggered by the immune system’s inflammatory response to gut flora, nutritional changes to gut flora may help mitigate this response. Not only did their IBD diet provide therapeutic benefits for some trial patients, but it also ensured sufficient nutrient intake and alleviated physical symptoms. 

Based on the outcome, the researchers believe their IBD diet should undergo “rigorous analysis” via a randomized clinical trial that would evaluate the degree of healing in the intestinal membrane and assess gut flora to better determine which changes to it provide the best benefits to IBD patients.