In my practice as a gut health dietitian I see patients with IBD all the time. On Instagram @AndreaHardyRD, I talk all about the difference between Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis!
What’s the difference between Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis? 🤔
Both are types of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), but they’re two different conditions.
There are 3 key differences between Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis:
1️⃣ Location
2️⃣ Continuous inflammation
3️⃣ Which layers are affected
What is Crohn’s Disease?
💥 In Crohn’s disease, inflammation can appear anywhere along the digestive tract. It’s a disease that impacts ‘gum to bum’. People with Crohn’s disease typically have areas of healthy tissue between inflamed areas. The inflammation can extend through the entire thickness of the digestive tissue. It can also affect the network of tissue that holds the small bowel to the abdomen.
What is Ulcerative Colitis?
💥 In ulcerative colitis, inflammation is typically localized to the colon, and only affects the inner lining of bowel tissue. With ulcerative colitis, there are no healthy areas between inflamed areas.
How to manage IBD?
Both types of IBD typically require medication management to get inflammation under control and allow the gut to heal. In some cases, surgery is needed to remove the inflamed parts of the digestive tract.
There are also some new dietary therapies on the horizon for IBD. This includes exclusive enteral nutrition, and the Crohn’s Disease Exclusion Diet + partial enteral nutrition. What is SO cool about these therapies is, they harness our knowledge of the gut microbiome and nutrition in the development and management of inflammation, and have been shown to induce remission. 👏
Want to learn more about IBD?
We have an amazing blog post on @ignite.nutrition.inc written by our dietitian @sarahglinski.RD – (link in bio).
If you’re looking for help with symptom and nutrition management in IBD, working with a dietitian can help – my team at @ignite.nutrition.inc is amazing!
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