Eating high amounts of ultra-processed foods predisposes to the risk of Crohn’s disease, according to the findings of a recent study published in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.¹

A team of researchers from Canada, USA, UK and France conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the association between high consumption of ultra processed foods vs lower intake and risk of inflammatory bowel disease – Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. Five studies published between 2020 and 2022, including a study population of 1,068,425, were selected for the analysis after a search of PubMed, Medline and Embase databases. Majority of the study subjects were female. The average age ranged from 43 to 56 years.

A total of 1934 participants developed ulcerative colitis and 916 developed Crohn’s disease. Those who consumed high amounts of ultra processed foods were at a significantly higher risk of developing Crohn’s disease with pooled hazard ratio (HR) of 1.71 compared to participants who ate more of unprocessed or minimally processed foods with HR of 0.71. But no significant link was found between risk of ulcerative colitis and ultra-processed foods (HR 1.17) or unprocessed/minimally processed foods (HR 0.84).

“You are what you eat”….This study reiterates the importance of healthy dietary habits. It demonstrates that eating high amounts of ultra processed foods augments the risk of Crohn’s disease but not ulcerative colitis. Ultra processed foods are ready-to-eat foods. They contain high amounts of saturated fats and simple sugars with nil or very low dietary fiber content. Increased GI inflammation due to resulting imbalance of the gut flora has been hypothesized to be the reason for the enhanced risk.

Reference

1. Narula N, et al. Food processing and risk of inflammatory bowel disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2023 Jan 31;S1542-3565(23)00071-X. doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2023.01.012.