Introduction:

Dietary fiber intake helps in the remission of ulcerative colitis (UC).

Objective:

To evaluate if there is an association between the amount of fiber in usual diet and disease activity in patients with UC.

Methods:

Cross-sectional study of a cohort of patients with UC. Dietary fiber intake was calculated and compared with the recommended amount (14 g/1000 kcal) with Mann-Whitney’s U-test. Using Spearman’s correlation coefficient, the number of relapses and the amount of consumed fiber were analyzed, and the relationship of dietary fiber consumption with disease activity was established by logistic regression.

Results:

The group without ongoing UC activity consumed a higher amount of dietary fiber (20 g, IQR = 18-26, p = 0.062), and 47% consumed more than the recommended amount; the logistic regression analysis showed that compliance with recommended fiber consumption was associated as a protective factor against UC current activity (OR = 0.227, p = 0.032). As for dietary fiber intake and the number of relapses within previous year, an inversely proportional correlation was observed (r = −0.399, p = 0.011).

Conclusions:

Consumption of the recommended dietary fiber amount in the general population had a protective effect against UC activity in Mexican patients.