Dietary Analysis of Patients with Crohn's Disease

Open Access
- Author:
- Zeky, Nicole Marie
- Area of Honors:
- Nutritional Sciences
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Terryl Johnson Hartman, Thesis Supervisor
Jill Patterson, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Crohn's Disease
nutrition
dietary fat
vitamin D - Abstract:
- Crohn’s Disease (CD) is a disease that targets the digestive system leading to inflammation that can leave the patient with symptoms of diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea, and malabsorption. Although there are many prescription treatment options for CD, there has yet to be any consistent dietary treatment options. This study, aims to look at the effect of various nutritional factors will have on a patient’s Crohn’s Disease Activity Index score (CDAI). It was thought that a diet recommended to prevent colon cancer would also help prevent symptoms of CD since the two are heavily linked. There were 18 patients recruited at both Penn State University and Penn State’s Hershey Hospital with mild cases of CD. Each patient was followed over the course of 6 months. Their dietary data was collected via 24 hour dietary recalls and they were given various doses of vitamin D that ranged from 1,000 IU to 5,000 IU. Of all of the dietary data collected, the specific nutritional factors that were looked at for this study were alcohol, fiber, calcium, total servings of fruits and vegetables, BMI and supplement use. There was no association between the summation of these factors and CDAI score. Total dietary fat was also compared to CDAI score, but there was no association between the two variables. The baseline serum levels were compared to their baseline CDAI scores to see if there was a substantial association. Although not significant, this association warrants further research with a larger study population to rule out any significance to vitamin D as a potential source of treatment.