Grant: Environments, Genes and Chronic Disease

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) describes a group of chronic conditions of the digestive system whose hallmark is unrelenting inflammation of the lining of the intestines. Crohn's disease (CD) and Ulcerative colitis (UC) are the two main subtypes of IBD. There are no cures for IBD and the ultimate cause also remains unknown. Accurate early diagnosis and effective treatments are important in reducing suffering and complications. The identification as to why these diseases develop may lead to ideas and ways about how to prevent and treat them. For instance, how the bacteria (microbiota) normally work together in our intestines is believed to play an important role in keeping us healthy but its disruption can lead to IBD. It is well accepted that the gut microbiota plays a crucial role in breaking down the food we eat into important nutrients that are essential for human health. In addition, what we eat is also known to affect which bacteria are present in our intestines and what they do. Based on this knowledge, we propose to assess the contribution of diet in the development and unrelenting continuation of the inflammation that defines IBD. This research program will investigate the complex interactions among diet, the gut microbiota and the host and provide information that may be important for personalized dietary and microbiota changes needed to keep people with IBD healthy. We propose to characterize the impact of the diet on the activities of intestinal bacteria to understand whether and how specific diet components or food consumption habits may lead to IBD and contribute to the ongoing inflammation or reasons why current treatments fail in some children. This study will generate the information required for the development of methods to improve bacterial activities in our intestine as treatment for IBD patients. This research will have important implications for the quality of life of people with IBD everywhere.