Historically children and adolescents with IBD appear to have growth failure at disease presentation, especially in CD, and an association with being underweight and malnutrition has also been described. Roughly one third of newly diagnosed UC pediatric patients and half of newly diagnosed CD pediatric patients present with malnutrition
[11]. There is likely multifactorial etiology that contributes to sub-optimal caloric intake including food avoidance, abdominal pain and malabsorption. Furthermore, it should be considered that a chronic inflammatory condition may cause a reduction in appetite via catabolic effects and hypothalamic weight regulation. This is particularly important since malnutrition is strictly related to poor prognosis in patients with IBD
[12]. Thus, ongoing scientific literature supports the main role of nutrition and diet in children with IBD. According to a recent position paper published by the European Society of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN)
[13], a global nutritional assessment in children with IBD is a central step in the management of IBD patients, with the aim of tailoring nutritional and dietary interventions. Indeed, children with IBD should be checked for qualitative and quantitative nutrient intake on a regular basis, through a weekly record. Starting from the past decade, the relationship between diet and IBD pathogenesis has been clearly supported by scientific evidence. Besides this, several nutritional strategies have evolved over the years and are currently considered therapeutic tools, with varying degrees of efficacy and support. Concerning pediatric IBD, multiple studies and meta-analyses have proven that EEN is as effective as steroid therapy in inducing remission in children with active CD
[14].
In particular, EEN may induce remission in approximately 75–85% of children with mild-to-moderate CD
[15], along with superior mucosal healing, a significant decrease in inflammatory biomarkers
[16] and positive benefits to growth and overall nutritional status
[17]. It is important to note that the efficacy of EEN in the induction of clinical remission in children with CD was further confirmed also when compared to biological therapy
[18]. This nutritional therapy is based on the use of a complete liquid formula, administered either orally or via a feeding tube, which is given as the unique source of daily nutritional requirements for 6 to 8 weeks, whilst avoiding the intake of usual solid foods
[19]. Due to its excellent safety profile and its equipotential to corticosteroids in inducing remission, the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization (ECCO) and the ESPGHAN recommend EEN as the first-line therapy for mild-to-moderate pediatric CD to induce remission, both in the first flare-up and during relapses of symptoms
[20]. On the contrary, until today, there has been no evidence to support EEN as an effective therapy for active UC
[21]. EEN is poorly tolerated, limiting its acceptability and clinical use
[19]. Therefore, alternative and better-tolerated nutritional therapy strategies have been developed to overcome non-adherence. Aimed at pinpointing a more effective and longer-term dietary therapy, the next step has been to focus on the identification of potentially proinflammatory dietary components that may negatively affect the microbiome. From this perspective, an innovative approach, called the CD exclusion diet (CDED), was described for the first time in a case series of adults and children with CD by Sigall-Boneh et al.
[22]. Patients following the CDED whole-food diet coupled with partial enteral nutrition (PEN) reached high rates of clinical response and remission
[22]. The efficacy of CDED + PEN compared to EEN in inducing clinical remission in children with mild-to-moderate CD was recently shown in a multinational trial
[23]. CDED was developed to exclude all industrially made packaged and processed foods that are rich in preservatives and emulsifiers, sugary drinks, dairy products, red meat and all processed meats, cereals containing gluten and gluten-free industrial products, ice cream and packaged desserts. This nutritional regimen consists of different phases with incremental varieties of food allowed and provides a consistent amount of high-quality protein and sugars. A somewhat different approach was recently developed by Svolos et al.
[24], with an individualized food-based therapy (CD-TREAT). The latter consists in an ordinary solid food diet that aims to recreate as closely as possible the composition of EEN, excluding certain dietary components (i.e., gluten, lactose) and the combination of others (macronutrients, vitamins, minerals and fiber). The authors anticipated that CD-TREAT aims to mimic EEN’s effects on the gut microbiome, metabolome, inflammation, and clinical outcomes. After a course of 8 weeks of CD-TREAT with five children with active CD in a pilot study, four of the five children responded to CD-TREAT, showing efficacy in inducing clinical remission
[24]. Less prominent approaches include the low-FODMAP diet and the specific carbohydrate diet (SCD). However, at present, no consensus has been reached on their use in the pediatric population due to a lack of evidence. The development of novel dietary treatments has enabled a turnaround in the treatment of pediatric IBD, especially CD. Although promising, the data need to be confirmed with future well-designed studies in order to unravel the full potential of nutritional and dietary therapies for IBD in the pediatric population.
4. IBD Patients’ Approach to Diet
Diet can play a key role in the etiology and symptoms of IBD. Despite this, it has been observed that patients with IBD can be divided into two groups: some patients believe that intentional avoidance of certain foods can manage symptoms and improve the disease; others do not consider dietary patterns to be an additional treatment and observe improvement only with drug treatment
[25]. Qualitative semi-structured interviews with patients of IBD about the psychosocial impact of food and perceptions, eating and drinking showed that some participants made a direct link between the presence or severity of their symptoms and the type of food. These patients are constantly trying to change their diet according to how they feel after eating a certain food, while others make no changes to their diet after an IBD diagnosis
[26]. Whereas only few participants used diet as their first treatment for IBD, the majority believed there should be a combination of diet and drugs. Thus, the choice of dietary patterns of patients with IBD is not a static process but evolves with the disease and symptoms. Patients’ dietary patterns are connected to their understanding of how food items influence their disease course. Dietary restrictions in many patients occur during flares and are stopped in remission. Some patients claim that they can only eat chicken and rice or liquid nutrition during a flare
[2][27] Several studies have been conducted to analyze the foods that are avoided by patients with IBD, summarized in
Table 1, and the list of “bad” and “good” foods differed between patients. The bad foods are considered to be triggers that can exacerbate their IBD symptoms, such as diarrhea, pain, nausea and bloating. Bad foods that are typically avoided include high-fat and spicy foods, meat alternatives, fruit, vegetables, dairy products and milk, alcohol, coffee and fizzy or carbonated drinks
[1][2][27][28][29]. The dietary patterns of patients with IBD are analyzed via a dietary questionnaire and interviews, both of which provide insight into intentional food avoidance.
Table 1. Main food items that are avoided in the IBD population according to some studies.
Food Items |
Avoidance |
Alcohol, salads and raw vegetables, and deep-fried foods |
These foods are the most commonly eliminated during the acute phase [24][30]. Alcohol was avoided to prevent flares [27][23]. |
Capsaicin (spicy foods) |
Up to 84.8% of the IBD population chooses to avoid spicy food to prevent disease relapse [2][28][24]. |
Fresh fruit, vegetables and fibres |
Patients are likely to avoid fibers because they are worried about disease complications [1][2][28][29]. |
Milk and dairy products |
Dairy products are described to be commonly excluded by patients and are the food group that is most typically avoided following a health professional’s advice [2][27][28][24][30][31]. |
Sweets |
Sweets were associated with IBD symptom aggravation more in UC patients than in CD patients. |
Meat alternatives (legumes, nuts, seeds and peanut butter) |
These are the most eliminated food items in the sample of IBD patients [2][24]. |
Coffee and frizzy drinks |
Studies report that patients exclude coffee due to the worsening of symptoms; lower coffee consumption was also reported in UC patients and patients with active disease [9][30][32]. |