Dietary beliefs and behaviors among parents of children with inflammatory bowel disease
Open accessAbstract
Diet is regarded as one of the important environmental factors triggering inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Many IBD patients avoid numerous types of foods in fear of disease exacerbation. The aim of the study was to investigate dietary beliefs and food avoidance among pediatric patients with IBD. This questionnaire-based study was conducted in three University-affiliated children's hospitals in Poland. Data were collected from parents of children who were diagnosed with IBD. A total of 155 parents of IBD patients participated in the survey: 104 (67.1%) had a child with Crohn's disease and 51 (32.9%) with ulcerative colitis. Parents of older children and those with longer disease duration predicted diet being considered one of the causative agents of IBD, and differences were statistically significant (P = .01 and P = .04, respectively). Also, patients with a shorter history of disease rarely shared food with other family members (P = .02). In total, 61.5% of patients avoided some kind of food in fear of disease flares. In the parent's opinion, the food the children liked but avoided included fried dishes, sweets (e.g., chocolate, cookies, cakes, candies, jellies), and fast food. Due to their dietary beliefs, parents of children with IBD commonly introduced dietary restrictions for their offspring. Frequent and unjustified food avoidance may influence not only nutritional status but also general well-being of pediatric patients. Our results underscore the urgent need for IBD patients and parents of ill children to receive reliable dietary advice based on strong scientific evidence.
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Studies of parents of children with IBD have found that many believe that food is a cause of IBD and 61.5% avoid certain foods in fear of exacerbating symptoms for their children.
“Studies of parents of children with IBD have found that many believe that food is a cause of IBD and 61.5% avoid certain foods in fear of exacerbating symptoms for their children [62].”
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Influential
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EEN Yesterday and Today … CDED Today and Tomorrow
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“Another similar study from Poland confirmed that 61.5% of the 155 included children/parents avoided at least one group of foods for fear of worsening the disease [19].”
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“The most commonly avoided categories were dairy, confectionery, fast foods or fried foods, high-fibre foods, and oily foods, consistent with previous studies [11–13].”
InfluentialImpact of Diet, Psychological Factors, and Psychological Care on Pediatric IBD Outcomes
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Dietary Beliefs and Habits in Pediatric IBD: Insights from a Single-Center Survey
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- Authors
- Pituch-Zdanowska, A., Kowalska-Duplaga, K., Jarocka-Cyrta, E., Stawicka, A., Dziekiewicz, M., & Banaszkiewicz, A.
- Affiliations
- Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
- Department of Pediatrics, Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Cracow, Poland.
- Department of Pediatrics, Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Faculty of Medical Science University of Warmia and Mazury, Olsztyn, Poland.
- Medical University of Warsaw (PL)
- Venue
- Journal of Medicinal Food
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2019-08
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 817-822
- ISSN
- 1096-620X (ISSN-L)
- 1557-7600
- OpenAlex
- W2944638816
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 1.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- ruj.uj.edu.pl
- Locations
- Journal of Medicinal Food (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Jagiellonian University Repository (Jagiellonian University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Inflammatory Bowel Disease
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Child Nutrition and Feeding Issues
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Keywords
- inflammatory bowel disease, pediatric Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, food beliefs, food avoidance, parental attitudes, dietary restriction, disease flares, nutritional status, dietary recommendations
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Child, Child, Preschool, Culture, Feeding Behavior, Female, Food Preferences, Humans, Infant, Male, Middle Aged, Nutritional Status, Parents, Surveys and Questionnaires, Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
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