Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

What are the causes of inflammatory bowel disease – ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease?

While there are no known causes, some risk factors for IBD are:

• Age: < 30 years, though it can happen at any age
• Certain medications
• Family history
• Habits like smoking
• Poor dietary habits

How is inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease diagnosed?

A gastroenterologist may diagnose Crohn’s disease by:

• Medical history
• Medical examination
• Tests, including:
  • Blood tests – Tests to evaluate anemia or infection
  • Stool tests – Faecal occult blood test
  • Biopsy
• Diagnostic Procedures: Depending on the requirement, one or a combination of tests can be conducted such as:
  • Colonoscopy
  • Computerized tomography (CT)
  • Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
  • Capsule endoscopy:The patient is made to swallow a capsule with a camera to take pictures of the small intestine
  • Balloon-assisted enteroscopy

What diet should a patient with inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease take?

Since diet is not a direct cause of the disease, changing the diet plan and pattern may not treat the disease but it can help in controlling the symptoms.

In case of a severe bout of the disease, your gastroenterologist may sometimes advise a special diet to be administered via a feeding tube (called enteral nutrition) or nutrients that may be injected into a vein (called parenteral nutrition) as a short-term measure in combination with medications.

Some of the following tips may be adopted to improve the eating habits:

• Maintain a record of what you eat and associated symptoms to help identify problematic food items.
• Have smaller portions of meals at frequent intervals.
• Avoid eating deeplyfried and greasy food items.
• Consider avoiding milk and milk products.
• Avoid high-fiber foods such as corn, nuts, seeds etc.
• Engage in physical activity, weight and stress management activities.
  To know more about inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease and its treatment, you can request a callback and our Inflammatory bowel disease specialist will call you and answer all your queries.

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