ABSTRACT
Inammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic, immune-mediated gastrointestinal disorder comprised of two major phenotypes, Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). The inammatory process in CD can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract and is transmural. In contrast, UC affects only the colon and inammation is limited to the mucosa. Despite these differences, nutrition increasingly has been identied as an important consideration in IBD. As the location of nutrient absorption, the gastrointestinal tract is constantly exposed to dietary antigens. Diet also plays a key role inuencing the composition and function of the gastrointestinal microbial population (microbiome). Thus, it is understandable that investigators have evaluated various dietary habits and their potential causative role in the development of IBD, the nutritional decits resulting from IBD, and the potential therapeutic role of nutrition in treating IBD.1 This chapter will review these intriguing relationships in further detail.
