Healthy eating patterns associated with reduced risk of inflammatory bowel disease by lowering low-grade inflammation: evidence from a large prospective cohort study.

Background: Limited epidemiological evidence exists regarding the role of healthy eating patterns in reducing the risk of Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). This study aimed to investigate the association between adherence to four established healthy eating patterns and subsequent CD or UC risk, and further examined whether these associations are linked to anti-inflammatory mechanisms.

Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study of 197,391 participants from the UK Biobank who completed at least one dietary questionnaire and were free from inflammatory bowel disease or cancer at baseline.