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This review explores the role of diet in the pathogenesis and treatment of inflammatory bowel disease and highlights various contemporary dietary options in the treatment of adult and pediatric inflammatory bowel disease. The role of diet in inflammatory bowel disease has become clearer through epidemiologic, basic science, and interventional studies. Multiple dietary treatment strategies are used as primary or adjunctive therapy in inflammatory bowel disease to varying degrees of success. While the field of nutrition and nutritional therapy in inflammatory bowel disease has evolved with supporting evidence from basic science and clinical research, further studies are necessary to fully understand the impact and potential of diet and dietary therapy in the management of IBD.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, is a life-long relapsing and remitting condition characterized by inflammation of the intestine. While the exact pathogenesis of IBD is unclear, the current belief is that both genetic and environmental factors play a role in development of disease. Management options include nutritional, pharmacological, and surgical therapies. In particular, nutritional therapies for IBD have garnered significant interest due to their limited side effect profile, bowel-sparing nature, and naturalistic approach. This review will examine the role of diet in the pathogenesis and malnutrition in IBD, and will discuss dietary approaches to management of IBD, including exclusive enteral nutrition, specific carbohydrate diet, anti-inflammatory diet, and food supplements (specifically curcumin and long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids). Past and recent literature on these subjects were reviewed in Medhub and Scopus databases for this review article with a focus on pediatric and high-quality publications. At this time, these approaches seem to be safe and show promise of an efficacious sole or supplemental role in the treatment of IBD, but randomized, prospective studies are lacking. Additional studies investigating these diets and food supplements are needed to provide more information on their efficacy, mechanism, applicability, and safety.