“And then you start to loose it because you think about Nutella”: The significance of food for people with inflammatory bowel disease - a qualitative study
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Many patients with inflammatory bowel disease strongly believe that food or certain food products heavily influence the symptoms or even trigger acute flare-ups. Unfortunately, there is no generalizable information for these patients, and therefore no effective diet has been identified to date. METHODS: The narrative interviews we used for this study provide the basis for the German website www.krankheitserfahrungen.de . Maximum-variation sampling was used to include a broad range of experiences and a variety of different factors that might influence people's experiences. The sample included men and women of different age groups and social and ethnic backgrounds from across Germany. The interviews were analyzed using grounded theory. RESULTS: Four interrelated categories emerged: managing uncertainty, eating: between craving and aversion, being different and professional help as a further source of uncertainty. The most important issue for our responders was the handling of uncertainty and to find a way between desire for, and aversion against, eating. Many participants described difficulties during formal social occasions such as weddings, birthdays, or when going out to a restaurant. CONCLUSIONS: Many of the experiences the participants reported in their daily struggle with food and their illness, such as cravings for and abstaining from certain foods, were rather unusual and often stressful. Because they decided not to go out in public any longer, some of the interviewees experienced even more social isolation than they did before. Health professionals need to become more involved and not only advice about food and eating, but also help their patients find strategies for avoiding social isolation.
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Adults with IBD encounter challenges with abstaining from foods.
“Similar research among adults with IBD found that adults struggle significantly with decisions about diet, often related to uncertainty of whether a food will exacerbate symptoms or disease, and encounter challenges with abstaining from foods [28].”
Adults with IBD struggle significantly with decisions about diet, often related to uncertainty of whether a food will exacerbate symptoms or disease.
“Similar research among adults with IBD found that adults struggle significantly with decisions about diet, often related to uncertainty of whether a food will exacerbate symptoms or disease, and encounter challenges with abstaining from foods [28].”
Patients with IBD highlighted the social isolation of adhering to diets, given that food is an integral part of many social events.
“Patients with IBD in this sample also highlighted the social isolation of adhering to diets, given that food is an integral part of many social events (e.g., birthdays, weddings, and dinner parties) [28].”
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- Authors
- Palant, A., Koschack, J., Rassmann, S., Lucius-Hoene, G., Karaus, M., & Himmel, W.
- Affiliations
- Universitätsmedizin Göttingen (DE)
- University of Freiburg (DE)
- Evangelisches Krankenhaus Göttingen-Weende (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Palant, Alexander
- Venue
- BMC Gastroenterology
- Published
- 2015-07-30
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 93-93
- ISSN
- 1471-230X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4518859
- OpenAlex
- W1639239220
- Cited by
- 41
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 1.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- BMC Gastroenterology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- GRO (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- GoeScholar The Publication Server of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Deutsche Rentenversicherung
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Inflammatory Bowel Disease
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
- Keywords
- inflammatory bowel disease, dietary management, food cravings, food aversion, uncertainty, social isolation, social eating, flare-ups, patient experience, professional help
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Diet, Feeding Behavior, Female, Food, Germany, Humans, Interviews as Topic, Male, Middle Aged, Social Behavior, Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, Internet, Uncertainty, Qualitative Research, Young Adult, Craving, Grounded Theory
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