Association of Dietary Components and Combined Dietary Profiles with Ulcerative Colitis: A Case-Control Study.

Background and

Objectives

Diet is a potential modifiable risk factor for ulcerative colitis (UC). This study examined the associations of individual dietary components and combined dietary profiles with UC. Methods and Study

Design

This case-control study included 157 patients with UC and 395 controls. Dietary consumption frequencies were converted into ordinal scores ranging from 1 to 4. Participants were additionally classified into four dietary profiles based on combined levels of risk-promoting and protective food consumption. Logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Results

Higher consumption of fast food (OR = 5.30, 95% CI: 3.65, 7.70), carbonated soft drinks (OR = 9.37, 95% CI: 5.78, 15.18), and spicy food (OR = 1.56, 95% CI: 1.21, 2.01) was positively associated with UC. Dairy consumption was inversely associated with UC (OR = 0.52, 95% CI: 0.33, 0.82). In sex-stratified analyses, vegetable consumption was inversely associated with UC among women only. Compared with participants with high risk-promoting/low protective food consumption, those with low risk-promoting/low protective food consumption (OR = 0.07, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.21) and those with low risk-promoting/high protective food consumption (OR = 0.08, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.17) had substantially lower odds of UC. The high risk-promoting/high protective food consumption was not associated with UC.

Conclusions

Frequent consumption of fast food, carbonated soft drinks, and spicy food was associated with higher odds of UC, whereas dairy consumption was associated with lower odds. Lower consumption of risk-promoting foods, irrespective of protective food consumption, was associated with substantially lower odds of UC. Prospective studies are needed to confirm these associations.