Meat Intake Is Associated with a Higher Risk of Ulcerative Colitis in a Large European Prospective Cohort Study

Meat Intake Is Associated with a Higher Risk of Ulcerative Colitis in a Large European Prospective Cohort Study

Catherine Dong1, Simon S M Chan2, Prevost Jantchou3, Antoine Racine1, Bas Oldenburg4 et al.

1 INSERM, Centre for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health, Institut Gustave Roussy, Université Paris Saclay,Villejuif, France; Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospital of Bicêtre, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris and Université Paris-Saclay, Le Kremlin Bicêtre, France

2 Norwich Medical School, Department of Medicine, University of East Anglia, Norwich UK; Department of Gastroenterology, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust, Norwich, UK

3 INSERM, Centre for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health, Institut Gustave Roussy, Université Paris Saclay,Villejuif, France; Sainte Justine University Hospital, Montreal, QC, Canada

4 Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University Medical Centre, Utrecht, The Netherlands
 
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Background and Aims

We aimed to investigate the association between protein intake and risk of inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.

Methods

A total of 413 593 participants from eight European countries were included. Dietary data were collected at baseline from validated food frequency questionnaires. Dietary data were calibrated to correct errors in measures related to each country-specific questionnaire. Associations between proteins [total, animal, and vegetable] or food sources of animal proteins, and IBD risk were estimated by Cox proportional hazard models.

Results

After a mean follow-up of 16 years, 177 patients with Crohn’s disease [CD] and 418 with ulcerative colitis [UC], were identified. There was no association between total protein, animal protein, or vegetable protein intakes and CD or UC risks. Total meat and red meat intakes were associated with UC risk (hazard ratio [HR] for the 4th vs 1st quartile = 1.40, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.99-1.98, p-trend = 0.01; and 1.61, 95% CI = 1.10-2.36, p-trend = 0.007, respectively]. There was no association between other food sources of animal protein [processed meat, fish, shellfish, eggs, poultry] and UC. We found no association between food sources of animal proteins and CD risk.

Conclusions

Meat and red meat consumptions are associated with higher risks of UC. These results support dietary counselling of low meat intake in people at high-risk of IBD.

 

 

Publication details

Catherine Dong, Simon S M Chan, Prevost Jantchou, Antoine Racine, Bas Oldenburg, Elisabete Weiderpass, Alicia K Heath, Tammy Y N Tong, Anne Tjønneland, Cecilie Kyrø, Bas Bueno de Mesquita, Rudolf Kaaks, Verena A Katzke, Manuela M Bergman, Heiner Boeing, Domenico Palli, Giovanna Masala, Rosario Tumino, Carlotta Sacerdote, Sandra M Colorado-Yohar, Maria-Jose Sánchez, Olof Grip, Stefan Lindgren, Robert Luben, Inge Huybrechts, Marc J Gunter, Yahya Mahamat-Saleh, Marie-Christine Boutron-Ruault, Franck Carbonnel, Meat Intake Is Associated with a Higher Risk of Ulcerative Colitis in a Large European Prospective Cohort Studyø, Journal of Crohn's and Colitis, Volume 16, Issue 8, August 2022, Pages 1187–1196, https://doi.org/10.1093/ecco-jcc/jjac054