Role of nutrition in inflammatory bowel disease: an overview.

Although many patients with inflammatory bowel disease are malnourished, the role of nutritional support is still controversial. It is universally accepted that with adequate nutritional support patients will put on weight and that their biochemical functions may improve; the question nevertheless remains: does this help the patient get over his or her disease more quickly and, more importantly, does this affect morbidity and mortality? There are several ways of providing nutritional support and all need careful evaluation.