Dietary patterns, beginning at the age of one year old, may have an influence on the likelihood of developing an inflammatory bowel disease, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Gothenburg.
 
The rise in inflammatory bowel diseases like ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s has no clear explanation, and it’s thought that dietary patterns during the formative years beginning at one year old play a role. During the first years of life, the gut microbiota is particularly sensitive.
 
While the bulk of research has looked at dietary patterns in adults and the relative risk of developing an IBD, the role of early life nutrition has been relatively under-examined. There were numerous dietary factors in early life that either contributed to or diminished the risk of developing IBD by later in life, which were distinct from those seen in adult studies.  
 
Study Details
 
In the present study, which appeared in Gut, the team of researchers analyzed the dietary information of 81,280 one-year-olds in Sweden and Norway. The data came from two studies: All Children in Southeastern Sweden (ABIS); and the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa).
 
In the studies, parents were questioned about their children’s diet at 12-18 and 30-36 months of age. Diet quality was assessed using a child-friendly version of the Healthy Eating Index tool, where it was scored and classified as low, medium, or high-quality. Intakes of individual food groups were also studied, as were data on breastfeeding, formula, and antibiotics exposure.
 
In ABIS, children were monitored from the age of one to an average age of 21 years, while MoBa participants were followed to an average of 15 years old.
 
307 participants were diagnosed with IBD (131 Crohn’s, 97 ulcerative colitis, 79 unclassified).
 
Across the studies, high fish intake at one year, compared to a low intake, led to a 54% lower risk of ulcerative colitis. High vegetable intake at one year of age was also associated with an overall reduced IBD risk.
 
Meanwhile, high intake of sugar beverages, compared to low intake, increased risk of IBD by 42%.
 
There were no other associations between IBD and other food groups, which included meat, dairy, fruit, grains, potatoes, and high-fat and/or high-sugar foods.
 
By the age of three, only fish intake maintained an association with IBD risk, and that association was only for ulcerative colitis.
 
These associations remained after adjusting for antibiotics and formula at age one, as well as for other factors like breastfeeding and total household income.
 
“Although we cannot rule out other explanations, the new findings are consistent with the hypothesis that diet early in life, possibly mediated by changes in the gut microbiome, can affect the risk of developing IBD,” said lead author Annie Guo, a dietitian and postgraduate student in pediatrics at Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg.