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ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #62184
Title: NUTRITIONAL ASPECTS OF INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE

Author
item MOTIL, KATHLEEN - BAYLOR COLL OF MEDICINE
item GRAND, RICHARD - NEW ENGLAND MED CENTER

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/20/1995
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: An Interpretive Summary is not needed for this document.

Technical Abstract: Nutritional support has a beneficial effect on the disease activity of inflammatory bowel disease. Enteral supplementation is associated with an improvement in clinical well-being, nutritional status, and growth of the child and a reduction in the markers of disease activity and the amount of corticosteroid use in Crohn disease. Enteral diets alone are equally as effective as immunosuppressive drugs for the induction of remission in Crohn disease. Fish oils reduce disease activity and corticosteroid use in ulcerative colitis. Growth failure is a major complication of inflammatory bowel disease. Nutritional factors, including inadequate dietary intake, excessive gastrointestinal losses, malabsorption, increased nutritional requirements, and the response of the body to inflammatory mediators, account for growth failure in this disorder. The inflammatory aspects of the disease and the treatment of the inflammatory process with corticosteroids also have been implicated as contributory factors to growt failure. Nutritional supplementation reduces disease activity, restores body composition, and reverses linear and ponderal growth delays. The induction of disease remission and the prevention of growth failure in inflammatory bowel disease are possible by monitoring appropriate anthropometric and laboratory indices and by promptly instituting adequate nutritional rehabilitation when indicated. The methods available for the treatment of malnutrition in inflammatory bowel disease include oral, enteral, or parenteral supplementation. Except for the role of elemental or other defined formulas in establishing remission, there is very little evidence that eating or avoiding specific foods influences the severity of disease or the frequency of relapses or in any way induces a remission.