Nutritional intake and body composition in children with inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract

In this study we assessed nutritional intake, body composition, and their relationship in patients with paediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).We conducted a longitudinal, prospective study of 38 patients' nutritional intake using 3-day food records (FR) and bioimpedance analysis of body composition. FR were evaluated by Nutricomp DietCAD software. Results were analysed with Microsoft Excel 2013 and IBM SPSS Statistics 22 software.Patients treated with biological and conventional therapy (CT) had a higher intake of vegetable protein and carbohydrate from starch than those treated earlier with exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) in the remission phase (F = 5.926, F = 5.130, P < 0.05). The former EEN group had a higher intake of iron compared to the other two groups (F = 3.967, P = 0.036). Protein intake and fat-free mass (FFM) had a significant positive correlation, while added sugar correlated with body fat mass (BFM) in the same way (R2 = 0.122, R2 = 0.169, P < 0.05). Body-fat mass in patients of the biological therapy (BT) group overstepped the healthy median, and the FFM in the EEN group stayed under it.Our results confirm that it is essential to monitor body composition and not only measure body weight. Patients should be advised based on their body composition, therapy, and phase of the disease.