The Role of Diet in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Onset, Disease Management, and Surgical Optimization.

The concept of using diet as therapy in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is of interest to clinicians and patients. Once considered to play a minor role, diet is now known to affect not only disease onset but may also serve as a therapeutic tool for inducing and maintaining remission and improving surgical outcomes. Further research is needed to fully elucidate how, when, and in whom diet therapies may be best applied to improve clinical and disease outcomes. The aim of this review is to summarize current research findings and serve as a tool to help facilitate patient-clinician conversations.