Enteral nutrition and dietary interventions.

Currently, various dietary interventions or supplements, including probiotics and prebiotics, are available for patients with Crohn's disease. Among these interventions or supplements, there is nothing showing significant efficacy. Although the evidence level is not high, the available data suggest that enteral nutrition is effective in both active and quiescent Crohn's disease. However, the therapeutic efficacy of dietary and nutritional interventions needs to be supported by well-designed trials in large cohorts of patients. Further, a significant limitation of enteral nutrition is inadequate patient compliance due to poor palatability of an elemental diet. One major challenge is to establish practical strategies for increasing patient adherence for long-term enteral nutrition.