According to one study, adopting a healthy lifestyle could prevent up to 60% of cases of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
- Inflammatory bowel diseases affect 200,000 people in France according to the Foundation for Medical Research.
- 10 to 15% of IBD begin in children: 70% are Crohn’s disease, 25% ulcerative colitis, according to Health Insurance.
Lifestyle change, a real prevention strategy against Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis? This is what emerges from a large international study published in the journal gut.
Diet has a big impact on inflammatory bowel disease
According to the researchers, adopting a healthy lifestyle consists of several things, such as having a BMI between 18.5 and 25; never smoke and exercise.
On the diet side, in detail, you should eat at least eight daily portions of fruit and vegetables, consume less than half a daily portion of red meat, at least 25 g of fiber per day, at least two weekly portions of fish; at least half a daily serving of nuts/seeds and drink a maximum of one alcoholic beverage per day for women or two for men.
According to their work carried out on the data of nurses – over the period from 1991 to 2017, and doctors – over a period from 1986 to 2016, who had participated in studies in the United Statesmaintaining this healthy lifestyle could have prevented 61% of cases of Crohn’s disease and 42% of cases of ulcerative colitis (also called ulcerative colitis).
Other factors increase the risk of developing IBD
Crohn’s disease (CD) is a chronic inflammation that can affect the walls of the entire digestive tract, from the mouth to the anus. “Most often, Crohn’s disease affects the terminal part of the small intestine which connects the stomach to the colon, the colon (or “large intestine”) and the anus“, explains theHealth Insurance.
Ulcerative colitis is a chronic inflammatory and ulcerative disease, most often characterized by hemorrhagic diarrhea. “Extra-intestinal symptomatology, including arthritis, may occur“, noted the MSD Manual.
However, the researchers indicate that their purely observational study has limits: factors related to previous lifestyle, which could have had an influence, were not taken into account. These include antibiotic prescriptions, breastfeeding, environmental factors such as pollution, stress and socio-economic factors which also have a significant impact in the development of inflammatory diseases of the intestine.
