Ultra-processed food intake associated with IBD

A higher intake of processed food was found to increase the risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This result is consistent within the different categories of processed food that were assessed in a large international cohort study. Future studies are needed to assess which components in processed food lead to an increased risk of IBD.

Certain food additives, such as emulsifiers and detergents, have been associated with IBD [1]. The current prospective, observational cohort study (2003-2016) investigated the link between food intake and incident IBD in 116,037 participants from 21 countries [2]. At baseline, habitual food intake was assessed through food frequency questionnaires (FFQ’s). The diagnosis of IBD was determined per self-report. Dr Neeraj Narula (McMaster University, UK) presented the findings of the study.

A multivariate Cox proportional hazard model revealed that the number of processed food servings per day was associated with the occurrence of incident IBD in this cohort. Participants with an intake of ≥5 servings per day had a higher risk of IBD than participants with an intake of <1 serving per day (HR 1.82; P=0.0063). This result was more pronounced in incident Crohn’s disease (HR 4.50) than in incident ulcerative colitis (HR 1.46). The risk of incident IBD was increased for all 4 categories of highly processed food that were analysed in this study: processed meat intake, soft drink intake, the intake of sweets, and salty food and snacks.

1. Swidsinski A, et al. Inflamm Bowel Dis 2009;15(3):359-64
2. Narula N, et al. Association of Processed Food Intake with Risk of Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Results from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study. OP05, ECCO 2021 Virtual Congress, 2-3 & 8-10 July.

 

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Posted on 2 July 20218 April 2024