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Compared to rich children, those born with a lower socioeconomic status are at a 65% lower risk of suffering from childhood inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). According to a recent study, children also face a higher risk of developing IBD after they are given antibiotics before turning five years old or adhere to a Western diet.
Lead author and gastrointestinal dietitian Nisha Thacker presented these findings at a conference called Digestive Disease Week 2023. Inflammatory bowel diseases include Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Symptoms include stomach pain, weight loss, bloody diarrhea, anemia, and poor growth.
“Many of these factors can impact our gut microbiota and may have a particularly strong effect in a child,” Thacker said in her official statement. “A Western diet, high in sugars and ultra-processed foods and low in vegetables, is a prime example.”
To understand the contributing risk factors of inflammatory bowel diseases during childhood and adolescence, Thacker analyzed data from 36 studies that delved into the impacts of gastrointestinal inflammation. The studies’ data included 6.4 million children. She found that antibiotics usage before the age of five tripled a child’s risk of developing IBD. But consuming more vegetables, having pets and/or more than two siblings protected young children from IBD. Interestingly, Thacker also highlighted that children who grow up in a household that has only one toilet also offer some protection against inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD).
In a press release, Thacker explained that her findings indicate that excessive hygiene can be counter-productive. Mainly because reducing the diversity of microbes a child is exposed to prevents them from developing a resilient gut microbiome that is less prone to inflammation. For an efficient and strong immune system, parents should encourage their children to play outdoors and interact with pets to increase their chances of being exposed to beneficial or good bacteria.
“Most humans live in harmony each day with the 10 trillion bacteria and fungi that constitute our intestinal microbiome, a relationship that is quite remarkable when one considers that only a single layer of intestinal epithelial cells separates these organisms from patrolling mucosal immune cells,” Shehzad A. Saeed, a gastroenterologist from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and colleagues wrote in a 2015 JAMA Pediatrics study.
Currently, there is no cure for inflammatory bowel diseases. Once it is diagnosed, doctors can only treat it symptomatically in an attempt to reduce the severity and frequency of treatments. IBD can significantly impact a child and adolescent’s quality of life and social life. Studies estimate that around 25% of IBD cases present before age 20 years. In the United States and Canada, the incidence of pediatric IBD is around 10 per 100,000 children. But the prevalence is far higher. In the U.S. anywhere between 100 to 200 children and adolescents have been diagnosed with inflammatory bowel diseases.
To date, the exact causes of inflammatory bowel diseases in children and adults is still unknown. But researchers worldwide are investigating how the human gut microbiome could contribute to IBD.