A high animal protein diet affects the health of our intestines

Eating too much animal protein (meat, fish) increase the risk of chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in women, according to a French study published in the journal "American Journal of Gastroenterology."

IBD represents a group of diseases characterized by acute and chronic inflammation of the digestive tract, such as ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis disease. It affects about one in 500 and have become more frequent since the Second World War, the reasons for this remain unexplained changes.

Whether any plan can be a contributing factor to such conditions, Dr. Franck Carbonnel CHU Bicetre (Val-de-Marne) and colleagues followed more than 67,000 women aged 40 to 65, participating in a study long course on risk factors for cancer and other diseases.

During a mean follow up of 10 years, 77 women developed MIC: 90% of them ate a daily protein intake above the daily recommendations.

Thus, those with the highest intake of protein per day, mainly of animal origin, saw their tripled risk of IBD diagnosis. This risk was specifically associated with a high consumption of meat and fish, but no dairy products or eggs.

While experts have long suspected that diet can play a major role in the onset of inflammatory bowel disease, French researchers note that the only connections made so far were a big fat consumption and certain types of sugars. Some studies have also found an association between vitamin D deficiency and IBD.

Dr. Carbonel evokes Moreover, a recent prospective study showing a decreased risk of IBD with a consumption of foods rich in omega-3 present, for example, in fish oils and flaxseed (but not omega 6, found in several types of vegetable oils and nuts, which it increases the risk).

According to him, the meat could contribute to the risk of IBD since the digestion of animal protein produces many potentially toxic substances such as hydrogen sulfide and ammonia. A diet rich in animal protein may also affect the digestive bacterial flora, he adds.

"These data should be confirmed in other populations, particularly among men and young people," he concluded, feeling that if this is the case, it would be interesting to conduct a new study comparing the effects on the risk of inflammatory bowel disease and a restrictive diet of animal protein versus non-restrictive.