Background: Environmental factors are an integral component in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). There is an increasing interest in nutritive components. While the potential disease-modifying role of coffee has been intensively investigated in a variety of gastrointestinal diseases, the data on the potential impact on IBD is very limited. We aimed to determine the patients' perspective on coffee consumption in IBD.
Methods: We conducted a questionnaire among IBD patients in Switzerland, assessing key questions regarding coffee consumption. Descriptive statistics including chi square testing were used for analysis of questionnaire data.
Results: Among a total of 442 patients 73% regularly consume coffee. 96% of patients attributing a positive and 91% of patients attributing no impact of coffee intake on IBD regularly drink coffee and surprisingly even 49% of those patients that assign a negative impact on disease symptoms. Among those patients refraining from regular coffee intake 62% are convinced that coffee adversely influences intestinal symptoms, significantly more in Crohn's disease (CD) than in ulcerative colitis (UC) (76% vs. 44%, p = 0.002). In total, 38% of all study subjects suppose that coffee has an effect on their symptoms of disease, significantly more in CD (54%) compared to UC patients (22%, p < 0.001). Moreover, while 45% of CD patients feel that coffee has a detrimental influence, only 20% of UC patients share this impression (p < 0.001).
Conclusion: Two thirds of IBD patients regularly consume coffee. More than twice as many CD compared to UC patients attribute a symptom-modifying effect of coffee consumption, the majority a detrimental one. However, this negative perception does not result in abstinence from coffee consumption.