Abstract:

Objective    To investigate the relationship between ulcerative colitis (UC) and food allergy. Methods    The serum food allergen-specific IgG (sIgG) level was detected in 121 patients with ulcerative colitis and 85 health controls by enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)． The UC patients who had sIgG-positivity（n=79） were divided into the diet control group（n=40）and the nondiet control group（n=39）. Patients in the diet control group were treated with 5-aminosalicylic acid and prednisone， with their daily diets eliminating the IgG-positive food. Patients in the non-diet control group were treated with 5-aminosalicylic acid and prednisone, without diet restriction. After two months of follow-up, the efficacy in the diet control group and the non-diet control group was observed and compared. Results    The sIgG-positive rate in 121 UC patients was 65.29% (79/121), while in the 85 health controls was 17.65%(15/85)． and there was  a great statistical significance between the two groups（P＜0.01）． The total response rate in the diet control group was 85.0% during two months of follow-up, while that in the non-diet control group was 43.6%, and there was a significant difference between the two groups (P＜0.05 )． Conclusions    Eliminating the IgG-positive food from UC patients′ diet would be helpful to improve the therapeutic efficacy． High level of serum food allergen-specific IgG may be relative to incidence of UC．

Key words: Ulcerative colitis； Food allergy； Immunoglobulin G； Food allergenspecific antibodies