How to prevent intestinal diseases
These data confirm previous European research and may lead to new treatments and preventive measures, the study authors say.
Inflammatory bowel disease - Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis - can be extremely painful and require surgical intervention. The reasons for their remain largely unknown.
In this study, researchers analyzed long-term data from 238,000 study participants, who were held in 1976 and 1989.
None of the participants did not suffer from inflammatory bowel disease at baseline.
Compared with participants who lived in the northern United States, living in the southern regions were 52 percent less likely to develop Crohn's disease and 38 percent less likely to develop ulcerative colitis.
The findings are published in the online - version of the journal Gut.
Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston believe that the reason for this phenomenon - vitamin D, which is produced in the body when exposed to sunlight.
There is considerable experimental evidence supporting the role of vitamin D in the formation of innate immunity and regulation of inflammatory processes of the body, they said.
Inflammatory bowel disease - Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis - can be extremely painful and require surgical intervention. The reasons for their remain largely unknown.
In this study, researchers analyzed long-term data from 238,000 study participants, who were held in 1976 and 1989.
None of the participants did not suffer from inflammatory bowel disease at baseline.
Compared with participants who lived in the northern United States, living in the southern regions were 52 percent less likely to develop Crohn's disease and 38 percent less likely to develop ulcerative colitis.
The findings are published in the online - version of the journal Gut.
Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston believe that the reason for this phenomenon - vitamin D, which is produced in the body when exposed to sunlight.
There is considerable experimental evidence supporting the role of vitamin D in the formation of innate immunity and regulation of inflammatory processes of the body, they said.