Table 3.
Dietary behaviour of 294 IBD patients
| Questions | Answers, n (%) |
|
|---|---|---|
| yes | no | |
| Have you followed a diet for your IBD? | 140 (47.6) | 154 (52.4) |
| Do you omit foods in order to reduce disease symptoms? | 225 (76.5) | 69 (23.5) |
| Disease symptoms that are reduced by omitting foods | ||
| Abdominal pain/cramps | 198 (88.0) | |
| Diarrhoea | 155 (68.9) | |
| Relapse | 89 (39.6) | |
| Fatigue | 59 (26.2) | |
| Do you eat more of certain foods that have a beneficial effect | ||
| on disease symptoms? | 166 (56.7) | 128 (43.3) |
| Disease symptoms that are improved by eating more of certain foods | ||
| Abdominal pain/cramps | 127 (77.9) | |
| Diarrhoea | 109 (66.9) | |
| Fatigue | 63 (38.7) | |
| Relapse | 60 (36.8) | |
| Nutrition and lifestyle adaptations to reduce disease symptoms | ||
| Regular meals | 191 (65.2) | |
| Sports/exercise | 178 (60.8) | |
| More frequent smaller portions | 123 (42.0) | |
| Relaxation (mindfulness/meditation) | 120 (41.0) | |
| Do you use food supplements? | 199 (67.7) | 95 (32.3) |
| Reason for supplement use | ||
| Improve health | 149 (42.3) | |
| Reduce fatigue | 110 (31.3) | |
| Reduce symptoms | 45 (12.5) | |
| Prevent relapse | 21 (6.0) | |
| Other reason | 27 (7.7) | |
| Do you use (foods enriched with) pre- and probiotics? | 78 (26.5) | 216 (73.5) |
| Reason for pre- and probiotics use | ||
| Reduce symptoms | 48 (61.5) | |
| Improve health | 44 (56.4) | |
| Prevent relapse | 31 (39.7) | |
| Reduce fatigue | 22 (28.2) | |
| Other reason | 14 (17.9) | |
IBD, inflammatory bowel disease.