Doing These Things Can Reduce Your Risk Of Developing IBD By 61%

When it comes to preventing autoimmune disease, it's normal to wonder how much is really under your control.

We've long known that nutritional and lifestyle factors can affect the risk of developing certain diseases, but there's very little data out there to explain exactly how much these factors can help or hurt. 

But first, a recap on IBD: Inflammatory bowel disease is a term used to describe two gut conditions characterized by chronic inflammation and damage to the GI tract. Its symptoms include persistent diarrhea, abdominal pain, rectal bleeding/bloody stools, weight loss, and fatigue. You've likely heard about these conditions before or know someone who has one.

The first is Crohn's disease, which can affect any part of the GI tract but typically affects the small intestine, while the second is ulcerative colitis, which normally occurs in the large intestine, colon, and rectum.

An IBD diagnosis can be life-altering and incapacitating, and medical experts are still working on developing effective treatments, so we'd all benefit from investing in preventive measures. 

And now, thanks to a new study, we know a little bit more about which preventive measures make a difference, and by how much. The study included more than 200,000 adults in the United States and Europe and looked at factors like diet (including fruit, vegetable, fiber, and red meat intake), tobacco use, body mass index (BMI), nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use, physical activity level, and adherence to certain healthy lifestyle factors.

It found that those who generally invested in healthy lifestyle factors like eating fruits and vegetables, getting enough fiber, and engaging in regular exercise—and generally avoided unhealthy ones like having a high BMI and smoking—could prevent about 61% of Crohn's disease cases and about 42% of ulcerative colitis cases. 

Like many over-the-counter pain relievers, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen can be damaging to the gut, especially the microbiome. "There is considerable evidence to show that NSAIDs cause bleeding, inflammation, and ulceration in the stomach and small intestine," write the authors of a paper3 on the negative influence of NSAIDs on the gut microbiome.