What kids consume before the age of one could potentially determine their susceptibility to future illnesses. Researchers have found that a high-quality diet at the age of one may reduce the subsequent risk of inflammatory bowel disease.
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory condition that affects the digestive tract. It includes two disorders: Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Ulcerative colitis causes inflammation or sores along the lining of the large intestine, while Crohn’s disease impacts the deeper layers of the small intestine.
Although previous studies have shown how diet influences the risk of IBD in adults, very little is known about how early childhood diet affects the risk.
After analyzing participants from two large-scale cohorts: All Babies in Southeast Sweden study (ABIS) and The Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa), the researchers recommend including plenty of fish and vegetables in an infant’s diet while minimizing the consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks. The findings were published in the journal Gut.
Parents were asked to respond to specific questions about their children’s diet when they were aged 12-18 months and 30-36 months. The researchers also noted the data on the age of weaning, antibiotic use, and formula feed of the participants at these two sites.
The diet quality of the participants was measured in terms of the Healthy Eating Index(HEI) and categorized as low, medium, and high. Children who had a higher intake of vegetables, fruit, and fish, and a lower intake of meat, sweets, snacks, and drinks were given a higher HEI score.
The health of the children was followed up for an average of 21 years for ABIS and 15 years for MoBa. During this period, a total of 307 children developed IBD, of them 131 had Crohn’s disease, 97 had ulcerative colitis and 79 children developed an unclassified IBD.
“Medium and high quality diets at the age of 1 were associated with an overall 25% lower risk of IBD…
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