Chrons Disease and Smoking

A study that was published in May 2007 in The American Journal of Gastroenterology, has shown a link between smoking and Chrons Disease.

The research seems to show that smoking may determine which part of your intestinal tract is affected in people who have Chrons disease. This is very important as where the chrons disease is situated often determines if the patient will need surgical treatment or not.

The research showed that people with chrons disease and who smoke, the crohn's disease seems to appear more often in the small intestine and not the colon. Chrons disease located in the small intestine is often more penetrating causing more damage and thus has to be treated by surgery more often. This research does ask a few important questions like why does smoking effect the different parts of your intestine in different ways.

There is a theory that the physical differences in small and large bowel may explain the differences in location of chrons disease in smokers. Whatever the case this seems to suggest that more research needs to be done on the effects of smoking and Chrons Disease.