SynthesisAlimentary pharmacology & therapeutics2017
Systematic review with meta-analysis: breastfeeding and the risk of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
Synthesis in Alimentary pharmacology & therapeutics, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 114 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
114 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 236 citations in OpenAlex.
- NUTRITION MANAGEMENT OF INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASES: A CONSENSUS OF THE BRAZILIAN ORGANIZATION FOR CROHN'S AND COLITIS (GEDIIB).Arquivos de gastroenterologia · 2026Pooled it
- Associations of breastfeeding with maternal and child health outcomes: umbrella review.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- Breastfeeding Duration Is Not Associated With Offspring Inflammatory Bowel Disease Risk in Three Population-Based Birth Cohorts.Clinical gastroenterology and hepatology : the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association · 2024Pooled it
- Century Wide Changes in Macronutrient Levels in Indian Mothers' Milk: A Systematic Review.Nutrients · 2022Pooled it
- Sustainability of breastfeeding interventions to reduce child mortality rates in low, middle-income countries: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in health services · 2022Pooled it
- Changing epidemiology of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases in immigrants: A systematic review of population-based studies.Journal of autoimmunity · 2019Pooled it
- Role of environmental factors in the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease: a critical review.International journal of colorectal disease · 2019Pooled it
- Diet and inflammatory bowel disease: The Asian Working Group guidelines.Indian journal of gastroenterology : official journal of the Indian Society of Gastroenterology · 2019Guideline
- Polygenic Risk Scores Show Distinct Genetic Architectures of IBD-Associated Comorbidities.Digestive diseases and sciences · 2026Article
- The exposome and inflammatory bowel disease: a framework for primary and primordial prevention.Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology · 2026Review
- Modifiable lifestyle factors in early life and inflammatory bowel disease risk in two birth cohorts.Journal of Crohn's & colitis · 2026Article
- Mother-to-offspring microbial vertical transmission: timing, determinants, and impact on offspring susceptibility to gastrointestinal diseases.Medical review (2021) · 2026Review
- Pre-Diagnosis Dietary Pattern Differences in Australian Children with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Exposure Across Ethnicities.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Immunomodulatory Role of Milk on Gut Microbiota: Implications for Enhancing Oral Vaccine Efficacy.Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2026Review
- Conception, pregnancy and inflammatory bowel disease-Current concepts for the practising clinician.Indian journal of gastroenterology : official journal of the Indian Society of Gastroenterology · 2026Review
- The epidemiology of inflammatory bowel disease: exploring the impacts of environmental factors.The Korean journal of internal medicine · 2026Review
- Maternal gut microbial legacy shapes intestinal health and susceptibility of offspring to colitis.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2026Article
- Diet and Gut Microbiota in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Clinical and Nutritional Perspective.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Human milk microbiota: origins, determinants, and roles in maternal-infant microbial transmission and infant microbiome assembly.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- Gastrointestinal morbidity in children whose mothers have anorexia nervosa: A longitudinal cohort study.Psychological medicine · 2025Article
54 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundBreastfeeding is a modifiable factor that may influence development of inflammatory bowel diseases. However, literature on this has been inconsistent and not accounted for heterogeneity in populations and exposure.
aimTo conduct a meta-analysis to examine the association between breastfeeding in infancy and risk of Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC).
methodsA systematic search of Medline/PubMed and Embase was performed for full text, English-language literature through November 2016. Studies were included if they described breastfeeding in infancy in patients with CD or UC, and healthy controls. Data were pooled using a random effects model for analysis.
resultsA total of 35 studies were included in the final analysis, comprising 7536 individuals with CD, 7353 with UC and 330 222 controls. Ever being breastfed was associated with a lower risk of CD (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.59-0.85) and UC (OR 0.78, 95% CI 0.67-0.91). While this inverse association was observed in all ethnicity groups, the magnitude of protection was significantly greater among Asians (OR 0.31, 95% CI 0.20-0.48) compared to Caucasians (OR 0.78, 95% CI 0.66-0.93; P = .0001) in CD. Breastfeeding duration showed a dose-dependent association, with strongest decrease in risk when breastfed for at least 12 months for CD (OR 0.20, 95% CI 0.08-0.50) and UC (OR 0.21, 95% CI 0.10-0.43) as compared to 3 or 6 months.
conclusionBreastfeeding in infancy protects against the development of CD and ulcerative colitis.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.