Nutritional management of inflammatory bowel disease

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease present higher risk for hyponutrition. For this reason, an adequate nutritional support is frequently needed. In these patients, enteral nutrition should be used unless there exist contraindications. Nutritional support as the primary therapy is no indicated in adults (since steroidal therapy has shown to be more effective) but in the case of intolerance or lack of response to medical treatment. By contrast, enteral nutrition is considered a first line therapy in children. There is no clear benefit with the use of specific formulas (modified fat, glutamine...), so that their routine use is not recommended. In spite of the great technical and scientific advances, there are still many fields in which knowledge should be broaden; some of them are pointed out in this publication.