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High-Quality Diet at 1 Year of Age Tied to Lower Risk for IBD

Medically reviewed by Drugs.com.

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Feb. 1, 2024 -- High diet quality in early life is associated with a reduced risk for later inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), according to a study published online Jan. 30 in Gut.

Annie Guo, from University of Gothenburg in Sweden, and colleagues assessed whether early-life diet quality and food intake frequencies were associated with subsequent IBD. The analysis included 1-year and 3-year questionnaires in 81,280 children participating in the All Babies in Southeast Sweden and The Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study who had follow-up data through adolescence.

The researchers found that compared with low diet quality, medium and high diet quality at 1 year of age were associated with a reduced risk for IBD (pooled adjusted hazard ratios [aHRs], 0.75 [95 percent confidence interval (CI), 0.58 to 0.98] and 0.75 [95 percent CI, 0.56 to 1.00], respectively). For children at 1 year old with high versus low fish intake, risk trended lower for IBD (aHR, 0.70; 95 percent CI, 0.49 to 1.00) and for ulcerative colitis (pooled aHR, 0.46; 95 percent CI, 0.21 to 0.99). There was also an association seen between higher vegetable intake at 1 year and a lower risk for IBD. An increased risk for IBD was seen with a higher intake of sugar-sweetened beverages. There was no association noted between diet quality at 3 years and later IBD.

"These novel findings suggest that early-life diet, particularly at 1 year of age, is important for later IBD development and support further research in this field to understand the role of diet in the prevention of IBD," the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

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Posted February 2024

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