Could Diet Be an Effective Treatment for Children with Crohn Disease or Ulcerative Colitis?

A new study recently published in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology found that a specific carbohydrate diet effectively improved the fecal microbiome in children with Crohn disease or ulcerative colitis, resulting in remission of symptoms of inflammatory bowel.

Researchers examined the effect of the specific carbohydrate diet on 12 participants between the ages of 10 to 17 with Crohn disease or ulcerative colitis and mild to moderate inflammatory bowel disease for twelve weeks. The specific carbohydrate diet excluded all grains, sugars, processed foods, and dairy, except for honey, specific fermented yogurt, and some hard cheeses.
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Participants were evaluated at 2, 4, 8 and 12 weeks after starting the diet, and completed standardized questionnaires, including the pediatric Crohn disease activity index or pediatric ulcerative colitis activity index, a physical examination, and provided blood work and stool samples.

One participant dropped out after 2 weeks, and 1 dropped out after 8 weeks due to the difficulty of maintaining the diet.

After 2 weeks, 5 out of 12 of the participants were in clinical remission, at 8 weeks 8 out of 11 patients were in remission, and at 12 weeks, 8 out of the 10 remaining patients remained in remission. Likewise, the fecal microbiome showed improvement in the diversity of bacterial species after 12 weeks.

Overall, researchers concluded that the specific carbohydrate diet was linked to the remission of inflammatory bowel disease in children with Crohn disease or ulcerative colitis. Further studies are needed to test the safety and efficacy of a specific carbohydrate diet in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

—Melissa Weiss

Reference:

Suskind DL, Cohen SA, Brittnacher MJ, et al. Clinical and fecal microbial changes with diet therapy in active inflammatory bowel disease [published online December 27, 2016]. Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology. doi:10.1097/MCG.0000000000000772.