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Precision Nutrition in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Marco Bertini

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Guest Editor

Laboratori Baldacci S.p.A., Pisa, Italy
Interests: clinical pharmacology; pediatric science; iron metabolism; celiac disease; nutrition; microbiote; microbiome; lactobacilli; probiotics; prebiotics; simbiotics

Dr. Roberto Miniero

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Guest Editor

Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy
Interests: pediatric hematology; iron metabolism; iron deficiency; megaloblastic anemia; camel milk and human diseases; hemopoietic stem cell transplantation; didactic materials for pediatric education

Dr. Valentina Talarico

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Guest Editor

Pediatric Unit, “Renato Dulbecco” Institute, Catanzaro, Italy
Interests: pediatric gastroenterology; pediatric endocrinology; pediatric emergency; rare pediatric diseases; nutrition

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Young children represent the fastest growing population worldwide regarding the incidence and prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease. Nutrition can be considered a simple, cost-effective treatment for thess kinds of pathologies, especially in children, but many gaps must be filled in order to understand how—and if—precise nutrition could improve the QoL of children affected by pediatric inflammatory bowel disease. The application of Precision Nutrition in the field of Inflammatory Chronic Bowel Disease is an emerging concept. Recently, the National Institute of Health (N.I.H.) launched the Strategic Plan for NIH Nutrition Research, aiming to research particular set of beliefs, ideas, or rules that referr to Inflammatory Bowel Disease in order to help medical doctors to solve this problem. The four main topics of this Special Issue are as follows: 1. Evaluation of evidence-based and rationally designed anti-inflammatory diets in RCTs (researchers from U.C.L.A. have recently designed an anti-inflammatory whole-food diet based on the exclusion of pro-inflammatory foods combined with anti-inflammatory phytonutrients and prebiotics). 2. Identification of biomarkers of responders and non-responders. 3. Dietary triggers of relapse. 4. In silicio personalized predictions of responses to diet. Collaboration on these different four steps could be possible in order to design and realize a Therapeutic Precision Nutrition for I.B.D. In conclusion, the need to understand the role of Precision Nutrition in pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease has to become a pillar for the future health of children, and we hope that this Special Issue will contribute to a better understanding of the state of the art of this new, safe, and cost-effective therapy.

Dr. Marco Bertini
Dr. Roberto Miniero
Dr. Valentina Talarico
Guest Editors

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17 pages, 3439 KB

Open AccessArticle

Pre-Diagnosis Dietary Pattern Differences in Australian Children with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Exposure Across Ethnicities

by Nisha Thacker, Shoma Dutt, Emily C. Hoedt, Edward V. O’Loughlin, Clare E. Collins and Kerith Duncanson

Nutrients 2026, 18(9), 1313; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu18091313 - 22 Apr 2026

Viewed by 458

Abstract

Background/Objectives: The pre-diagnosis dietary intake in newly diagnosed multi-ethnic paediatric inflammatory bowel disease (PIBD) is not well understood. This study aimed to describe the pre-diagnosis diet and environmental factors in children with newly diagnosed PIBD attending a single Australian tertiary children’s hospital. Methods: A pilot cross-sectional study was conducted from February 2022 to February 2023 involving children with newly diagnosed PIBD. Results: Of 56 children confirmed with PIBD, 54% had Crohn’s disease (CD)—mean ± SD age, 11.55 years ± 2.84—and 46% had Ulcerative Colitis (UC)—11.50 years ± 2.94 (45%, non-Caucasian). More Caucasians had an IBD family history (48.3% vs. 20%; p = 0.02 *). Non-Caucasian children demonstrated significantly lower mean serum vitamin D levels than Caucasian children (42.5 vs. 69 nmol/L; p ≤ 0.001 ***). Most children across ethnicities for both IBD subtypes had ‘regular’ intakes of red meat, whereas more Caucasian children had ‘regular’ intakes of processed/deli meat (72% vs. 39%; p = 0.02 *). A total of 64% of non-Caucasian children with CD reported a usual pre-diagnosis diet that differed from the traditional diet, compared to 42% with UC (p = 0.29). When eating out, fast foods were chosen regularly by most children with PIBD. Pre-diagnosis dietary intake data indicated that most with PIBD ‘rarely/never’ had whole-food sources of plant protein and had ‘infrequent’ intake of rice. Plant food diversity was low (mean 11 types/week). Conclusions: The significantly lower likelihood of IBD family history, along with relatively lower vitamin D levels, and the predominance of a Western-style dietary pattern among non-Caucasian children are compatible with the hypothesis that non-genetic factors may be important in PIBD, warranting further investigation into diet and environmental factors in this group. Further investigation of the pre-disease modifiable non-genetic factors contributing to the development of PIBD in the migrant population group is recommended. The finding across ethnicities of low pre-diagnosis plant food diversity was novel; however, due to the lack of healthy controls and the use of a novel but non-validated exposome tool, causality associations should be interpreted cautiously. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Precision Nutrition in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease)

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