MedWire News: A restricted organic diet may benefit people with Crohn's disease by reducing the amount of tissue damage, or lesions, in their intestines, researchers have found.

The findings also indicate that chemicals and other substances found in food that is mass produced using Western industrialised methods may promote intestinal damage in Crohn's disease patients, say Dr Christoph Gasche, from Klinik fur Innere Medizin in Vienna, Austria, and colleagues.

The researchers initially studied the effect of a highly restricted diet, based on spelt bread and red meat from intensively monitored organic farms, on the symptoms of five patients with moderate-to-severe Crohn's disease.

As most of the patients showed significant reductions in intestinal legions, the team studied the effects of the diet in a further 14 Crohn's disease patients. Five of the patients received the restricted diet, while the other nine received a diet that was low in fibre and fat, and high in carbohydrates.

After 6 weeks, imaging tests revealed significant reductions in intestinal legions among patients on the restricted diet, compared with just one patient in the other group.

"This study indicates that ingested matter within a Western lifestyle may contribute to the development of Crohn's disease," the researchers conclude in the journal Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.

However, they add that it is too early to recommend a restricted organic diet for Crohn's disease patients until further research has been conducted.

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