Body Mass Index and the Risk for Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis: Data From a European Prospective Cohort Study (The IBD in EPIC Study)

OBJECTIVES: Obesity is associated with a proinflammatory state that may be involved in the etiology of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), for which there are plausible biological mechanisms. Our aim was to perform the first prospective cohort study investigating if there is an association between obesity and the development of incident IBD. METHODS: A total of 300,724 participants were recruited into the European Prospective Investigation into...