Crohn’s disease, in case you aren’t familiar, is a type of “Inflammatory bowel disease,” in which an autoimmune process causes severe inflammation throughout the digestive tract, leading to abdominal pain, bloody stools, malabsorption of nutrients, and other serious and sometimes life-threatening complications. Like many autoimmune diseases, it has become more common over the past few decades, which strongly suggests (since our genetics have not, as a species, changed during that same time period) that environmental triggers such as pollutants, changes to our gut microbiome, stress, and poor diet likely play a role in its development.
This new study, conducted by a group of doctors in Canada, bolsters this idea. After all, if changes in the way we live can cause Crohn’s disease, then it follows that changes in the way we live should also help to alleviate it.
