Adherence to a Mediterranean diet is associated with a lower risk of later-onset Crohn’s disease: results from two large prospective cohort studies

Higher adherence to a Mediterranean diet is associated with a 42% lower risk of later-onset Crohn's disease.

• A total of 164 cases of Crohn's disease and 395 cases of ulcerative colitis were confirmed among 83,147 participants over an average follow-up of 17 years.
• Participants with higher Mediterranean diet adherence scores had a lower risk of developing Crohn's disease compared to those with the lowest scores.
• No significant association was found between Mediterranean diet adherence and the risk of developing ulcerative colitis.
• The prevalence of poor adherence to the Mediterranean diet was 27%, contributing to a population attributable risk of 12% for later-onset Crohn's disease.
• The associations observed were consistent across various demographic factors such as age and sex.

AI simplified