The role of specific carbohydrate diet in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract

Nutrition treatment plays an important role in the treatment and follow-up management of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The theory of specific carbohydrate diet(SCD), first presented in 1951, is a strict diet limitation focused on the sorts of carbohydrate: monosaccharide is the only kind of carbohydrate that is permitted, disaccharide and most complex carbohydrate like polysaccharide and starch are eliminated, intake of protein and fat is not limited, and processed meat and other processed food are cut down appropriately.Currently, mechanism of SCD diet′s treatment efficacy on IBD is not elucidated clearly.The hypothesis of this theory is: (1) Bowel inflammation of IBD patients leads to the decline of disaccharidase′s function, thus glucose, galactose and fructose are the only kinds of carbohydrate that can be absorbed.(2)Occurrence of IBD is related to the disorder of bowel bacteria.The change of diet may regulate the bowel bacteria, which may be helpful to the symptoms of IBD.Retrospective case studies and case reports preliminarily indicated the efficacy of SCD in improving pediatric IBD symptoms and maintenance of clinical remission.However, high level evidence is still required to support the hypothesis.The limitation of carbohydrate by SCD would be the clue for the diet of pediatric IBD patients.However, the menu should be formulated according to the eating habits and the available food, as well as the requirement of the growth and development in children. Key words: Specific carbohydrate diet; Inflammatory bowel disease; Child