The Impact of Time Restricted Feeding in Crohn’s Disease.

Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease associated with significant morbidity. While the etiology is incompletely understood, alterations in intestinal microbiome composition and immune regulation play prominent roles in disease pathogenesis. Dietary therapies, including exclusive enteral nutrition, have been demonstrated to have favorable effects on disease activity but are limited by poor tolerability, high cost and logistical challenges. Other dietary strategies have been incompletely studied. Therefore, prospective studies on the impact of specific dietary interventions on disease activity, including microbiota composition, immunophenotype and biomarkers represent an unmet need. Time-restricted feeding is a form of intermittent fasting which has been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects in several conditions and is a no-cost and easy-to-implement intervention. This study will investigate the impact of a 4-week trial of time-restricted feeding on clinical disease activity, inflammatory and metabolic markers, the intestinal microbiome and immune cell composition in patients with mild-to-moderate Crohn’s disesae. Patients will undergo baseline clincal, nutritional and biochemical assessment prior to a 4-week intermittent fasting regimen for 16 hours daily. Longitudinal changes within the intestinal microbiome, inflammatory markers, and lymphocyte immunophenotype will be assessed before, during and post-intervention.