The early introduction of solid food to the baby may be associated with the development of inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, in people with a predisposition. This is what a study recently published in the journal Digestive and Liver Disease suggests.
Inflammatory bowel diseases mainly affect the large intestine (such as ulcerative colitis) and the end of the small intestine (Crohn’s disease) and cause symptoms such as diarrhea, abdominal pain, blood in the stool and weight loss, in addition to increasing the risk of cancer. colorectal.
Although the causes are not well known, it is known that there are genetic and environmental factors involved, such as certain habits that alter the intestinal microbiota, the population of microorganisms that live in the intestine. These diseases have no cure and have a major impact on quality of life, but it is possible to control inflammation with medication.
The objective of the authors — linked to different research institutions in Canada — was to investigate whether exposure, in early childhood, to factors capable of interfering with the microbiota could be associated with these diseases in the future.
The researchers selected patients from the CO-MMUNITY study (The Québec Birth Cohort on Immunity and Health), which includes data from around 400,000 people born between 1970 and 1974 and followed until 2014. During this period, they found 2,334 cases of Crohn’s disease and 1,043 of ulcerative colitis.
Of these, 1,212 individuals with Crohn’s disease and 570 with ulcerative colitis were included in the study. They answered questionnaires about breastfeeding and introducing solid food into their diet when they were children. The data was compared to 946 volunteers without these diseases.
You results show that those who started eating solid food between 3 and 6 months of age had a higher risk of developing Crohn’s disease than those who received these foods after 6 months. Exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life has also been shown to be protective.
“It is known that these diseases are influenced by external factors in people who probably have some predisposition and, therefore, certain dietary proteins and the microbiota may play a role in their development”, assesses gastroenterologist Rafael Ximenes, from Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in Goiânia. “However, we cannot say that the early introduction of a solid diet increases this risk, because the study is not conclusive and the statistical analysis itself only showed a trend.”
When should food be introduced?
The Department of Nutrology of the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics (SBP) recommends that complementary feeding be introduced at 6 months, including for children who consume infant formula.
It is during this period that “neuropsychomotor development and the digestive and renal systems are fully ready to receive foods other than liquids”, says the entity in the Practical Food Guide of the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics.
Introducing foods before this stage (between 4 and 6 months) can lead to a reduction in breast milk intake. Furthermore, gastrointestinal and immune immaturity can lead to the development of infections and allergies.
This content was originally published in Baby’s diet may be associated with inflammatory bowel diseases on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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