new diagnoses of ibd highest in kids under 6
but what’s particularly alarming is the number of new diagnoses in children under the age of six, and the related challenges for them and their families as they age — a change that benchimol has witnessed in his 20 years of pediatric research and practice.
“i remember a time when it was extremely rare, like you would see one [child with ibd] in a year,” he says. “now we see it all the time.”
he says theories behind the ibd spike in young kids surround the western diet and lifestyle, including hygiene, where cleanliness is altering the immune system by changing the microbiome balance of good and bad gut bacteria — when your immune system recognizes that things aren’t right, it overreacts.
“it becomes a hyperreactive immune system where it’s damaging your bowel and other parts of your body,” says benchimol, adding that living in a greener area with more parks may be protective against the development of ibd. “there’s so much research not only into medicines, but into treatments with diet. we’re trying to understand how diet affects the microbiome and how we can use dietary therapies to get things under control. i think with that, hopefully, one day we will have a cure.”