Nutritional modulation of the inflammatory response in inflammatory bowel disease--from the molecular to the integrative to the clinical.

Nutrient deficiencies are common in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Both total parenteral and enteral nutrition provide important supportive therapy for IBD patients, but in adults these are not useful for primary therapy. Dietary intervention with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids contained in fish oil may be useful for the care of IBD patients, and recent studies have stressed the role of PPAR on NFkappaB activity on the potential beneficial effect of dietary lipids on intestinal function.