Altered status of antioxidant vitamins and fatty acids in patients with inactive inflammatory bowel disease

Summary Background & aims Data regarding the nutritional status, antioxidant compounds and plasma fatty acid (FA) composition in inactive IBD are conflicting. We compared plasma levels of antioxidants and FA of patients with inactive IBD with active IBD and controls. Methods Plasma levels of vitamin C, vitamin E, carotenoids, saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated FA, inflammatory markers and nutritional status were determined after an overnight fast in 132 patients with quiescent IBD (40.6 ± 13.2 years, 87F/45M), 35 patients with active disease (37.9 ± 12.1 years, 25F/10M) and 45 age- and BMI-matched healthy controls (38.1 ± 10.5 years, 39F/6M). Results are expressed as mean ± SD or median [25th percentile;75th percentile]. Results Body mass index (BMI) was normal in inactive (23.9 ± 4.7 kg/m2), active IBD (22.7 ± 4.2 kg/m2) and controls (22.3 ± 1.9 kg/m2). Compared with controls patients with quiescent IBD showed significantly decreased plasma levels of carotenoids (1.85 [1.37;2.56] vs 1.39 [0.88;1.87] μmol/L) and vitamin C (62.3 [48.7;75.0] vs 51.0 [36.4;77.6] μmol/L), increased levels of saturated FA (3879 [3380;4420] vs 3410 [3142;3989] μmol/L) and monounsaturated FA (2578 [2258;3089] vs 2044 [1836;2434] μmol/L) and similar levels of vitamin E and polyunsaturated FA. Results in active disease were similar to inactive disease. Conclusion This study shows that antioxidant status and FA profile in a larger population of IBD patients are disturbed independently from disease activity and despite normal overall nutritional status.