Jantchou P, Morois S, Clavel-Chapelon F et al. Am J Gastroenterol 2010;105:2195–201.
In this study, animal protein was shown to increase the risk of the development of IBD in previously healthy middle-aged women by approximately three-fold. The risk, determined from validated food diaries, was related to meat and fish, but not to dairy products.
Both genetic and environmental factors are known to be critical to the development of IBD. Whilst tremendous advances have been made in elucidating genetic factors in recent years, specific environmental triggers remain somewhat elusive. The incidence of IBD has continued to increase globally in recent decades; the most striking recent trends have been in developing countries that are increasingly adopting a Westernized lifestyle. Dietary factors have been suspected as key players, but the specific components responsible have not been described. The retrospective studies conducted to date have probably been plagued by recall bias.