A Short-Term Enteral Nutrition Protocol for Management of Adult Crohn's Disease-A Pilot Trial

Abstract

Crohn's disease (CD) is often treated with either exclusive or supplemental enteral nutrition (EN) in pediatrics, but adult practice guidelines primarily focus on medications. Here, we demonstrate the feasibility of a 4-week semi-elemental-formula-based oral nutrition delivery program for managing adult CD (n = 4). Patients consumed ~66% of calories from the formula, a finding that might provide an improved calorie target for future trials. We identified Flavinofractor as the only differentially abundant genus, distinguishing post-intervention samples from pre-intervention samples. Findings from this pilot trial demonstrate the feasibility of a partial enteral nutrition protocol in adult CD management and contribute to the growing body of literature on the potential role of EN therapy in adults with CD.

Keywords: Crohn’s disease; diet; microbiome; partial enteral nutrition.

Figure 1

Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) plot of longitudinal beta diversity by participant. Legend: Principal coordinate analysis of Bray–Curtis dissimilarities among participants. Five samples were collected from each healthy control over the course of the intervention, and each individual is differentiated by color.

Figure 2

Longitudinal summary of gut microbiota composition by individual participant. Legend: Relative abundance of bacterial taxa in stool samples at the genus level. The x-axis represents weekly samples collected over the course of the intervention period by participant.