IBD Onset Not Influenced by Fiber Intake

Dietary fiber intake likely has no effect on the development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a recent study found.

For their study, the researchers recruited and assessed 401,326 European participants aged 20 to 80 years from 1991 to 1998.
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Food frequency questionnaires were used to determine fiber intake at baseline, and all patients were monitored for the development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In addition, smoking status was examined via sensitivity analysis.

Results showed that 104 participants had developed incident Crohn disease (CD) and 221 had developed ulcerative colitis (UC). Ultimately, the researchers did not observe any statistically significant associations across quartiles for total fiber intake.

The researchers noted that adjustment for smoking status and energy intake did not affect these associations. The only observed impact of smoking status on these associations was an inverse association of cereal fiber and CD in non-smokers.

“The results do not support the hypothesis that dietary fiber is involved in the etiology of UC, although future work should investigate whether there may be a protective effect of specific types of fiber according to smoking status in CD,” the researchers concluded.

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Andersen V, Chan S, Luben R, et al. Fiber intake and the development of inflammatory bowel disease: A European prospective multi-centre cohort study (EPIC-IBD). J Crohn Colitis. 2018;12(2):129-136. https://doi.org/10.1093/ecco-jcc/jjx136.