Does evidence exist to include dietary therapy in the treatment of Crohn's disease?
Prescription drugs and surgery are two common medical therapies for Crohn's disease (CD), an inflammatory bowel disease that affects the GI tract. Unfortunately, certain drugs can cause serious side effects, and surgeries must often be repeated. No diet has been established to alleviate the pain and suffering of CD patients. This is curious given the fact that a higher prevalence of food sensitivities exist in this population of patients, and enteral nutrition is not only the first-line of therapy in Japan, but a known research method used to place the majority of CD patients into remission. Although not all patients respond equally to diet, many simply remove symptom-provoking foods, such as dairy, wheat, corn and certain fruits and vegetables. We suggest assisting these patients in their self-assessment of irritating and symptom-provoking foods by educating them in the use of a food-symptom diary followed by a customized elimination diet trialed for 2-4 weeks to determine if there is any benefit to the individual patient.
Brown
Amy C
AC
Department of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, John A Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, 651 Ilalo Street, MEB 223, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA. amybrown@hawaii.edu
Roy
Minakshi
M
D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000178:diet therapy* / Q000276:immunology; D004035:Diet Therapy / Q000639:trends*; D055050:Diet, Gluten-Free; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D004750:Enteral Nutrition; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans
D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates