Dietary Interventions in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

INTRODUCTION Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a relapsingremitting immune disorder of unknown aetiology that afflicts millions of individuals throughout the world with debilitating symptoms, which impair ability to work and quality of life. The major phenotypes of IBD are ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD). Historically, IBD was recognised as a major health complication in developed countries notably, Northern Europe and North America, but has emerged in the rest of the world during the past few decades (1–4). The rise in the incidence and the prevalence of IBD has paralleled the social and economic development of populations and adaptation to a Western lifestyle that include changes in dietary intakes, smoking, oral contraceptives, and stress (5,6). INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE: A PRACTICAL APPROACH, SERIES #68