InflammopharmacologyOct 1, 2025

Gut-brain connection and how inflammatory bowel disease may relate to memory and thinking problems

Gut-Brain Axis Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Jun 27, 2026

Abstract

Essence

Inflammatory bowel disease may contribute to dementia risk through gut dysbiosis, systemic inflammation, and neuroinflammation along the gut-brain axis.

Evidence

Perspective article discussing mechanistic links between inflammatory bowel disease, gut dysbiosis, systemic inflammation, neuroinflammation, and dementia.

Caveat

It reports no new patient data and states that the precise mechanism linking IBD and dementia remains elusive.

Simplified

Dementia is a clinical syndrome due to brain neurodegeneration and associated oxidative stress and neuroinflammation. Chronic inflammatory and immunological diseases are associated with the development of dementia due to the development of neuroinflammation and synaptic dysfunction. Dementia is commonly related to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which may be named as an enterogenic dementia, which results from gut dysbiosis, systemic inflammation, and neuroinflammation. IBD is regarded as a potential risk factor for the development and progression of dementia, known as enterogenic dementia, through different mechanisms such as alteration of the gut-brain axis and gut dysbiosis. However, the precise mechanism linking IBD and dementia is not fully elucidated and remains elusive. In this perspective, we try to discuss the mechanisms for the development and progression of enterogenic dementia in relation to IBD and gut dysbiosis.