Mitos, leyendas y verdades sobre las recomendaciones dietéticas en la enfermedad inflamatoria intestinal

This review explains the reasons for dietary advice for patients with IBD are based, with special emphasis on demystifying some traditional concepts with little scientific basis. «bowel rest» is an outdated concept so that keeping a patient with active IBD in total fasting and fluid therapy alone should be considered bad practice. In fact, patients with an IBD outbreak should avoid only those foods, including dairy ones, who repeatedly and systematically increase their symptoms. During outbreaks a low fibre diet is recommended, particularly in patients with stenosing CD, or severe UC attacks. The probiotic cocktail VSL#3 is effective in preventing both the first episode and subsequent bouts of pouchitis. Also, the probiotic E. coli Nissle 1917 is useful in UC, particularly as maintenance therapy. However, probiotics are not useful in CD. The available clinical data do not support the use of omega-3 fatty acids in IBD, both active and inactive.