Early Diet May Ward Off Inflammatory Bowel Disease

1 min

Eating well as a baby could pay off later in life. A study conducted at the University of Gothenburg using health and dietary data gathered from more than 80,000 children suggests that those who had a high dietary intake of fish and vegetables and low consumption of sugary beverages when they were just 1 year old were less likely to develop inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) by age 16 or 22.

The research focused on children’s diets and subsequent development of IBD, a group of conditions that includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The study found that high fish intake at age 1 was associated with a 54 percent lower risk of ulcerative colitis, while high vegetable intake at the same age was linked to an overall reduced risk of IBD. Conversely, a high intake of sugary beverages was linked to a 42 percent increased risk of IBD. The findings support the hypothesis that diet early in life may affect the risk of developing IBD, possibly by influencing changes in the gut microbiome. More research is needed to determine cause and effect.

Source
gut.bmj/content/early/2024/01/02/gutjnl-2023-330971

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