Crohn's Disease

Find Out How Food Can Impact Your Crohn’s Disease

Certain dietary changes can minimize the symptoms of Crohn's disease during flares.

Lindsey Konkel
By Medically Reviewed by 
Reviewed:
Medically Reviewed
woman food journaling
Keeping a food journal can help you determine which foods are good to eat and which ones you should avoid.Irina Bort/Adobe Stock
Since Crohn's disease can interfere with your body's ability to digest and absorb nutrients from food, you may also need to ensure that you get enough of certain nutrients from your diet, says the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation.

It’s important to work with your doctor, and possibly a dietitian who is familiar with Crohn’s disease, to create a diet plan that’s tailored to your nutritional needs, notes the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

While it’s usually best to get the nutrients you need from food, your doctor may recommend that you take dietary supplements if you have any nutrient deficiencies because of Crohn’s.

Even though your diet can play a role in reducing symptoms and may have some effect on underlying inflammation, medication is almost always necessary to effectively treat Crohn’s disease.

There’s also no evidence that your diet plays a role in whether you develop Crohn’s disease, according to the the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Diet and Nutrition Problems in Crohn’s Disease

You’re much more likely to experience problems with your diet and nutrition during a Crohn’s flare or when your disease is active, compared with when it’s in remission, the Mayo Clinic notes.

Making changes in your diet doesn’t always help these problems, but you may need to eat differently in response to make sure you’re getting the nutrition you need.

Common dietary problems in active Crohn's disease include:

Malabsorption Inflammation in the small intestine can make it more difficult to absorb nutrients.

Severe diarrhea can also result in nutrients not getting digested properly, as well as lead to dehydration.

Lack of Appetite You may not feel like eating much if you're experiencing nausea and vomiting. This can make it difficult to get enough calories and nutrients.

Malnutrition You may eat less, or follow a diet that isn’t healthy, to avoid symptoms if you're having numerous bowel movements during the day.

Increased Energy Needs Having a chronic disease like Crohn’s can increase your body’s energy expenditure, so that you need to consume more calories to maintain your body weight.

This is especially true during disease flares, according to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation.

Food Triggers for Crohn's Disease

When you have Crohn's disease flares, certain foods or drinks can make symptoms like gas and diarrhea worse.

Food triggers can be different from person to person.

Keeping a food journal, in which you record how you feel after eating certain foods, can help you identify your own triggers, notes the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation.

The following dietary strategies may help ease symptoms of Crohn's disease, especially during flares:

Eat smaller meals. Reduce meal size or try "grazing" throughout the day.

Drink small amounts of water. Do this often throughout the day.

Avoid high-fiber foods. Fiber is essential to healthy digestion, but some people with Crohn's disease find that high-fiber foods, such as whole-wheat pasta or bread, and beans and other legumes, like chickpeas and lentils, can cause diarrhea and bloating during flares.

Avoid nuts, seeds, and popcorn. These foods can be especially difficult to digest, causing irritation in the digestive tract, notes the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).

Avoid raw fruits and vegetables, and their cooked skins. You may have an easier time digesting cooked, pureed, and peeled fruits and vegetables.

Avoid prunes. While prunes may help with regular digestion in people without inflammation in their bowel, they can cause problems in people with Crohn’s disease, notes Medical News Today.

Avoid fatty, greasy, or fried foods. Fatty foods can make symptoms worse, especially if you have inflammation in your small intestine.

Avoid spicy foods. Hot and spicy foods contain chemicals that can irritate your digestive system and worsen symptoms, according to the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation.

Limit dairy products. Some people with Crohn's disease have problems digesting lactose, the sugar found in milk and other dairy products.

If you’re not lactose-intolerant, though, keep in mind that dairy products can be an important source of protein and calcium.

Limit caffeine intake. Caffeine in coffee, tea, or soda can stimulate the bowel and worsen flares, notes the Cleveland Clinic.

Limit alcoholic beverages. Alcohol can irritate your bowel, so it’s important to figure out how much you can drink without having worsened symptoms.

Limit carbonated beverages. In some people, “fizzy” drinks can make digestive symptoms worse.

Best Foods to Eat While Having a Flare

Certain foods are easier to digest and may be better tolerated during a flare. These include:

Plain Cereal and Refined Grains While these foods don’t have the nutrient content of their whole-grain counterparts, they’re generally much easier to digest.

Many of these products are also fortified with vitamins and minerals.

Bland, Soft Foods These foods may be boring, but if they can help you avoid unpleasant symptoms, it may be a worthwhile trade, according to University Hospitals and the NIDDK.

Many common foods can be made softer by cooking them for longer or with more water. You can also try pureeing foods to make them easier to digest.

Lean Protein If you can tolerate them, lean meat and poultry, fish, and soy products are excellent sources of protein.

Protein can help you feel full and satisfied after eating, which can reduce food cravings and possibly help you avoid problem foods or overeating, according to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Low-Fiber Fruits Fruits like bananas, cantaloupe, and honeydew melon are easy on the digestive system. These fruits are typically recommended for Crohn’s patients who have strictures or who have recently undergone surgery, according to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation.

Special Diet for Crohn’s Disease

It's important to talk to your doctor about how to avoid problematic foods while still maintaining a healthy and balanced diet.

There's no one diet for Crohn's disease. The particular diet that your doctor recommends will depend on the type and severity of your symptoms.

Some common diets for Crohn's disease include:

Carbohydrate Exclusion Diets These diets limit or completely exclude fiber, grains, and certain sugars. While there are several types of carbohydrate exclusion dietary plans, the specific carbohydrate diet (SCD) is currently being studied by the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. The SCD excludes all refined and processed foods from the diet, along with soy, lactose, sucrose, grains, and certain vegetables, like potatoes, okra, and corn.

This diet can lead to deficiencies in numerous vitamins and minerals, so it’s important to stay in close contact with a healthcare provider while following it.

Low-FODMAP Diet Several studies have found this diet improves irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which is very different from IBD, though the two share many of the same symptoms.

FODMAP is an acronym for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols. This may sound complicated but it essentially means the diet plan cuts back on foods containing sugars that are not well absorbed by the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, per the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation.

While more research is needed on the effects of a low-FODMAP diet for Crohn’s patients, a study published in October 2019 in the journal Gastroenterology finds the plan may help some people with IBD find relief.

Gluten-Free Diet Research shows people with celiac disease are at an increased risk for IBD. If there is overlap, going gluten-free can help ease GI symptoms.

Some IBD patients who do not have celiac disease have found avoiding gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye, reduces their symptoms.

A study published in the journal Inflammatory Bowel Disease found that almost 20 percent of IBD patients have tried a gluten-free diet and 65 percent of those reported it benefited their symptoms.

Semi-Vegetarian Diet This diet, which limits animal-based protein to once a week for fish and once every two weeks for meat, is most commonly used to help treat hospitalized IBD patients in Japan.

One earlier study published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology found that Crohn’s patients following a semi-vegetarian diet were less likely to relapse compared with those who were not on this diet.

Be sure to discuss any major dietary changes you’re considering with your doctor to make sure that they’re safe and right for you.

Remember that you can’t try out every dietary strategy at once, and that it may take some time to figure out how you react to a change in your diet.

Dietary Supplements for Crohn's Disease

Crohn's disease can make it difficult to get enough vitamins and minerals, so many people with the condition take nutritional supplements to help prevent nutrient deficiencies.

Some supplements, such as probiotics and omega-3 fatty acids, have been studied for Crohn’s disease, but there isn’t any strong evidence that they’re helpful in reducing symptoms or maintaining remission.

Your doctor may recommend the following supplements, depending on your needs:

Talk to your doctor before taking any vitamins or other dietary supplements, since some supplements can worsen digestive symptoms, per the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation.

Additional reporting by Ali McPherson

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