Inflammatory Bowel Disease (cont.)

It is important to eat a healthy diet. Depending on your symptoms, your health care provider may ask you to decrease the amount of fiber or dairy products in your diet.

Diet has little or no influence on the inflammatory activity in ulcerative colitis. However, diet may influence symptoms. For this reason, people with inflammatory bowel disease often are placed on a variety of diet interventions, especially low-residue diets. Evidence does not support a low-residue diet as beneficial in treating the inflammation of ulcerative colitis, though it might decrease the frequency of bowel movements.

Unlike ulcerative colitis, diet can influence inflammatory activity in Crohn's disease. Nothing by mouth (NPO status) can hasten reduction of inflammation, as might the use of a liquid diet or a predigested formula.

When you become extremely upset, your symptoms may get worse. Therefore, it is important that you learn to manage the stress in your life.