Lower your odds of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) encompasses ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Both trigger inflammation of the intestines, leading to pain, diarrhea, and infections. Here are 6 measures you can take to lower your risk.

• Smoking cigarettes tripled the risk of Crohn's disease in one study of 317 sets of twins. If you already have Crohn's, continuing to smoke raises your odds for relapses and needing bowel surgery or aggressive drug treatment.
• Experts suspect that smoking strangles blood flow to your intestines or somehow puts your immune system on high alert, making the intestinal walls extra sensitive.
• Oddly, smoking seems to slightly reduce the number of flare-ups for people with ulcerative colitis. But that's no reason to light up! Smoking's just too hazardous for your health in many other ways.

• Aim to eat more of the foods listed above and have less red meat and fatty foods.
• Researchers who studied 400 children found that those who ate diets packed with produce, whole grains, and good fats from fish, nuts, and olive oil cut their IBD risk by two-thirds compared to those whose diets included more meats, saturated fats, and sweets.
• Eating the "bad" diet raised risk nearly five times higher than normal.

• Many people are addicted to sugar and don't even realize how much they're consuming.
• Instead of a cookie or chocolate bar in the afternoon or cake for dessert, have fresh fruit instead.
• While eating more fruit cut the risk of IBD in several studies, eating more desserts and refined sugar tripled the odds of developing Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. In one study, people who developed Crohn's reported eating twice as much refined sugar in the months and years before their diagnoses as people without the condition.

• Aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory pain relievers like ibuprofen and naproxen can all raise the risk for a relapse of IBD. This is likely because they can damage the lining of the upper intestinal tract.
• In one study, 28 percent of people with IBD taking these drugs had a relapse within nine days.
• If you have IBD plus arthritis or another chronic pain condition (or just need relief for a big headache), talk with your doctor about your options. There's some evidence that acetaminophen and the prescription pain reliever celecoxib don't trigger relapses.

When researchers followed 191 people with ulcerative colitis for one year, they found that those who ate red meat (like roast beef, hamburgers, and steaks) and processed meats (such as sausage and hot dogs) the most often were five times more likely to have painful relapses than those who ate very little of these foods.

When researchers checked on the eating habits and relapse rates of 688 people with IBD and 616 people without it, they discovered that soft drinks and chocolate splurges were big troublemakers. Drinking cola and nibbling on chocolate doubled the risk of both ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

Inflammatory bowel diseases are often debilitating and can be severely uncomfortable, painful, and difficult to deal with. Use these pointers to significantly reduce your risk, especially if conditions like Crohn's and ulcerative colitis are common in your family.