Children with Chrons disease often picky eaters

In a new study that was looking into food and the eating patterns in children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) which is a condition that includes Chrons disease and ulcerative colitis, it was found that children with IBD and crohn's disease are more likely than other children to show signs of picky eating.

All the children in the study had either Chrons disease or ulcerative colitis and "Picky" eating was defined as not eating during meal time, trying to negotiate with their parents what they will or won't eat and completely refusing to eat certain foods.


Dr. Laura Mackner the author of the study from the Columbus Children's Research Institute and Ohio State University told said the results found that children with chrons disease or ulcerative colitis have a significantly more eating behavioral problems and these also occur more often than in healthy children. She also said that children with IBD often feel pains in their abdomen, which may make them not want to eat food. "If your stomach's hurting, you may not feel like eating," she said.

Chrons Disease and a Childs Diet
Often children who have a form of IBD, weather it be Chrons disease or ulcerative colitis are often smaller than other children their own age this often makes their parents try to force them to eat more, often creating tension and a power struggle over eating. Dr. Laura Mackner said that as a parent who has a child who's eating habits start to interfere with their health you should consider taking your child to a psychologist who has experience in eating behaviors.

Nutrition education and behavior management has helped children overcome eating problems in other diseases, and similar programs might also work for children with chrons disease or ulcerative colitis.

The study looked into the eating behaviors of 82 children all between the ages of 11 and 17. 50 of the children had inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and the rest were healthy.

They also found that girls with chrons disease or ulcerative colitis and who were unhappy with their bodies showed a higher risk of eating problems. How much they weighed was not important. But with boys who had crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis weight was important, and those who weighed less than their peers were more likely to develop eating problems than normal weight boys with IBD.

These results of this study were presented during the recent meeting of the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition in Montreal.

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