Sticking to a healthy lifestyle may substantially decrease the burden of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, with US research showing about one in two cases could be prevented via modifiable risk factors.

Given the rising global incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), results from the observational study of 208,000 adults suggest dietary and lifestyle changes could be key preventive strategies.

Doctors led by the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston used data from three prospective cohorts – the Nurses’ Health Study I and II, and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study – to estimate the proportion of IBD cases that could have been prevented using population attributable risk.

The team created modifiable risk scores based on established risk factors such as BMI, smoking status, diet and use of NSAIDs, as well as separate healthy lifestyle scores using the US dietary guidelines and the American Heart Association’s guidelines for healthy living.