Factors Associated with Low Intake of Dietary Fiber in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients

Inflammatory bowel disease patients reduce their intake of foods rich in dietary fibers in an at-tempt to prevent recurrence of the disease, predisposing these patients to nutritional losses. The aim of this study was to evaluate the intake of dietary fiber and associated factors in a group of pa-tients with inflammatory bowel disease. This was a cross-sectional study with 61 inflammatory bowel disease patients, and all participants were outpatients in Salvador, Bahia. Patients com-pleted a semi-structured questionnaire that included questions about demographics, socioeco-nomic status and anthropometric and clinical information and a food frequency questionnaire to assess the intake of dietary fiber. The mean intake of dietary fiber was 28.2 ± 14.8 g/day for in-flammatory bowel disease patients, 27.9 ± 10.1 g/day for ulcerative colitis (UC) patients and 28.9 ± 21.1 g/days for those with Crohn’s disease (CD) (p> 0.05). Most inflammatory bowel disease pa-tients (52.5%) had intake below that recommended for dietary fiber. Inadequate consumption was present in 56.3 % of CD patients and 43.8 % of those with UC (p = 0.28). Men had lower fiber intake than women (p = 0.04). No significant associations between fiber intake and disease activity