Nutrition in inflammatory bowel disease

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic pathology that has an outbreaks course that in recent years have seen an increase in incidence, especially at younger ages. Malnutrition is frequently associated with this condition, therefore, it is very important to ensure a right nutritional intervention, especially in pediatric patients, to ensure an optimal growth and also an improvement in the clinic. Our goal will be updated the role of nutrition in this disease and in its treatment based on the published evidence. Malnutrition in these patients is frequent and is influenced by various factors such as, decreased food intake, increased nutrient requirements, increased protein loss and malabsorption of nutrients. Therefore there should be a nutritional monitoring of all of them, in which anthropometric measurements, laboratory tests and densitometry were made to establish the needs and sufficient caloric intake tailored to each patient. The use of enteral nutrition as a treatment in Crohn’s disease with mild to moderate outbreak in child population, is amply demonstrated, has even shown to be superior to the use of corticosteroids. Therefore we can conclude by stressing that nutritional intervention is a mainstay in the management of patients with IBD, which aims to prevent and / or control disease-related malnutrition to decrease morbidity and mortality and improve quality of life.