Intake of Ultra-processed Foods Is Associated with an Increased Risk of Crohn’s Disease: A Cross-sectional and Prospective Analysis of 187 154 Participants in the UK Biobank

Abstract

Background and Aims Ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption has been linked to globally increasing incidence and prevalence in chronic diseases including inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). We aimed to investigate the association between UPF consumption and IBD incidence, prevalence, and IBD-relevant outcomes. Methods We performed a cross-sectional and prospective cohort study in 187,854 individuals included in the national UK Biobank using 24-hour dietary recall questionnaires. Multivariable logistic regression and Cox proportional hazard regression were used to examine the association between UPFs and the prevalent, and incidence risk of IBD, respectively. Results 185,849 participants with a mean age of 56.2 were included with a mean follow-up of 9.84 years. During follow-up, 841 developed IBD (251 Crohn’s disease (CD), and 590 ulcerative colitis (UC)). UPF intake in IBD patients was significantly higher (CD: OR 1.94 (95%CI: 1.52 - 2.49, p<0.001); UC: OR 1.39 (95%CI: 1.17 - 1.65, p<0.001)). Compared to low consumption, higher UPF consumption was significantly associated with incident CD (HR 2.00 (95%CI: 1.32 - 3.03, p=0.001), but not UC. We also found a significant association between UPF intake and need of IBD-related surgery (HR 4.06 (95%CI: 1.52 - 10.86, p= 0.005)). Conclusion Higher intake of UPFs was associated with higher incidence of CD, but not UC. In individuals with a pre-existing diagnosis of IBD, consumption of UPFs was significantly higher compared to controls, and was associated with an increased need for IBD-related surgery. Further studies are needed to address the impact of UPF intake on disease pathogenesis, and outcomes.

The Reliability and Quality of Short Videos as a Source of Dietary Guidance for Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Cross-sectional Study

“…Many components of daily diet have been found to contribute to the deterioration and recurrence of IBD. In addition, an increasing amount of evidence suggests that unhealthy dietary habits, such as Western dietary patterns and excessive intake of ultraprocessed foods, are closely associated with a worse prognosis for IBD [40][41][42]. Despite the fact that some kinds of food are considered to be triggers of intestinal symptoms in patients with IBD, undifferentiated exclusion of certain nutrients may result in severe nutritional deficiencies, which in turn may lead to malnutrition and increased risk of hospitalization [43].…”

Dietary factors and patterns in relation to risk of later‐onset ulcerative colitis in Chinese: A prospective study of 0.5 million people

“…may be related to UC were not considered. 33 However, in the second resurvey of CKB, the majority of the participants (90%-99%) reported consuming carbonated drinks, other soft drinks, deep-fried foods, and Western-type fast foods <1 day/week, so the infrequent consumption in this study suggests that they were unlikely to alter the primary findings of our study. Second, the baseline FFQ included only information on consumption frequency.…”

Association of ultra-processed food consumption with incident depression and anxiety: a population-based cohort study

“…To calculate food intake in grams, portions were multiplied by standard portion sizes in grams for each item. 29 The mean value was used for participants who presented multiple rounds of dietary recall. A list of food items used to estimate the UPF intake is shown in ESI Table 1 †.…”