Can eating a healthy plant-based diet help protect against inflammatory bowel disease?

A large prospective study published in Molecular Nutrition and Food Research reveals that a healthy plant-based diet is linked with a reduced risk of inflammatory bowel disease.

For the study, 143,434 individuals in the UK reported on their dietary intake. During an average follow-up of 14.5 years, 1,117 participants developed inflammatory bowel disease—795 cases of ulcerative colitis and 322 cases of Crohn’s disease.

A healthy plant-based diet was associated with an 8% lower risk of ulcerative colitis, and a 14% lower risk of Crohn’s disease. An unhealthy plant-based diet was associated with a 15% higher risk of Crohn’s disease, with results suggesting that this was in part due to higher intake of vegetable oils and animal fats. Fruits and vegetables were identified as protective factors against inflammatory bowel disease.

Blood analyses suggested that the benefits seen in this study might be explained by the anti-inflammatory properties of plant-based foods.

“Our research indicates that a healthy plant-based diet may protect against inflammatory bowel disease, with its anti-inflammatory properties playing a key role,” said corresponding author Zhe Shen, MD, of the Zhejiang University School of Medicine, in China.

URL upon publication: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mnfr.70151

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About the Journal
Molecular Nutrition and Food Research is a food science journal devoted to health, safety and all aspects of molecular nutrition, including nutritional biochemistry, nutrigenomics, and metabolomics. With over 60 years of publishing high quality original research, the journal aims to advance the field in a sustainable manner. Our focus is on food and nutrition at the molecular level, attracting a wide readership of researchers studying bioactivity, immunology, microbiology and chemistry in this field.

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