Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Asia: A Second Chance at Uncovering Environmental Factors

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has become common in the Western world, but its causes remain unclear. With the dramatic increase of cases in Asia in recent years—echoing the disease’s drastic rise in the West decades earlier—investigators have another shot at studying environmental contributors to IBD as it emerges in new populations.© SPL/Science Source Although rates of IBD in Asia are rising, they are still relatively low compared with industrialized areas including North America, several European countries, Australia, and New Zealand.Source: Kaplan (2015)1 Studies of immigrants in Toronto show that second-generation Canadian children often do not enjoy the same degree of protection against IBD that their parents had in their South Asian home countries.© Ian Taylor/First Light/Corbis Investigators think the introduction of a Western diet and lifestyle could help explain the increase in IBD in Asia. Diet is a key factor in the makeup of an individual’s gut microbiome, which in turn may play a major role in susceptibility to IBD.© Toby Oxborrow Background image:© elfinadesign/Shutterstock Lindsey Konkel is a New Jersey–based journalist who reports on science, health, and the environment. About This Article open Citation: Konkel L. 2016. Inflammatory bowel disease in Asia: a second chance at uncovering environmental factors. Environ Health Perspect 124:A49–A54; http://dx.doi.org/1...
Source: EHP Research - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Featured Focus News March 2016 Source Type: research