Impact of Diet and Lifestyle Modification on the Intestinal Barrier Integrity in Crohn's Disease

Recruiting now · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Crohn's Disease

In brief

The goal of this prospective interventional study is to evaluate whether the targeted avoidance of a particular food that was diagnosed to be disruptive for the intestinal barrier during confocal laser endomicroscopy (CLE) contributes significantly to stabilizing the intestinal barrier and improving abdominal symptoms, quality of life and disease activity in Crohn's Disease patients with food-related symptoms. The main questions the study aims to answer are: * whether a food-induced intestinal barrier disorder in Crohn's disease patients can be detected by endoscopy using confocal laser endomicroscopy (CLE) and a causal relationship with certain foods can be established. * whether a change in diet or a targeted elimination diet can restore the defective integrity of the intestinal barrier detected by CLE. * to examine whether a targeted avoidance of a food that was identified by CLE to trigger intestinal barrier disruption leads to a relevant improvement in symptoms, quality of life and disease activity in patients with Crohn's disease. Participants will undergo a two-stage nutritional therapy concept based on a two-week inpatient integrative medicinal lifestyle modification program that comprises nutritional therapy, stress management strategies, mind-body medicine, herbal medicine and exercise: * Initially, participants learn how to employ the comprehensive lifestyle modification concept and receive nutritional training on a mostly vegetarian Mediterranean wholefood diet. * In a first stabilization phase, lasting for 3 months, participants independently apply the taught Mediterranean diet and use strategies from the comprehensive lifestyle modification program. * In a second elimination phase, lasting for another 3 months, participants additionally avoid the particular food that was identified by CLE to induce an intestinal barrier defect. Crohn's disease patients will: * initially receive a clinically indicated endoscopy with CLE and food challenge to examine whether a food-induced intestinal barrier disorder is present * return to the clinic for an optional endoscopy with CLE and food challenge after the first (stabilization) phase as well as the second (elimination) phase * answer questionnaires at study start as well as after the first and the second study phase to analyze their quality of life, the severity of their symptoms and their disease activity * give samples of blood, urine, stool and bile fluid as well as intestinal biopsies during regular inpatient sampling at study start as well as after the first and the second study phase * document their intake of food and their symptoms in an App-based diary throughout the study participation

Key facts

Study ID: NCT06719778
Run by: Universität Duisburg-Essen
People needed: 30
Starts: 2024-08-01
Expected to finish: 2027-04-01
Last updated by the study team: 2024-12-16

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

age more than 18 years
Crohn's Disease for at least 6 months (date of initial diagnosis)
with suspected food-induced symptoms or irritable bowel syndrome-like symptoms (fulfils IBS-Rom-IV criteria) for at least 3 months with moderate to severe symptom severity
stable IBD-specific medication dosage for at least 3 months [such as 5-aminosalicylates (5-ASA), thiopurines or biologicals (therapeutic antibodies such as infliximab, adalimumab, vedolizumab, etc.)].
inpatient admission to the clinic for internal and integrative medicine in Bamberg for regular treatment
clinical indication and performance of an initial esophagogastroduodenoscopy with confocal laser endomicroscopy with detection of a food-induced intestinal barrier disorder
signed informed consent form

You may not qualify if…

severe flare of Crohn's disease
artificial intestinal outlet
IgE-mediated type 1 allergy to CLE-tested foods (egg white, soy, milk, yeast, wheat)
macroscopic inflammation of the duodenum (detected via endoscopy)
pregnancy or breastfeeding
chronic alcohol or drug abuse
treatment with antibiotics within one month before the start of the study
Acute or chronic infectious, inflammatory or autoimmune intestinal diseases (such as coeliac disease, Whipples disease, lambliasis, eosinophilia, ulcerative colitis, infectious enterocolitis) or other organs (such as chronic hepatitis, autoimmune hepatitis, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, multiple sclerosis)
malignant diseases affecting internal organs within the last 5 years (such as colorectal cancer, stomach cancer, pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer)
severe mental disorders that impair the participant's ability to understand or follow the study protocol (e.g. uncontrolled schizophrenia, severe bipolar disorder, severe depression)
inability to give written consent or follow study protocols
participation in another therapeutic study within the last 30 days (except health services research)

Where it is running

Sozialstiftung Bamberg — Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany (enrolling)

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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