Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Sarcopenia: Its Mechanism and Clinical Importance

Malnutrition is a major contributor to muscle loss and muscle dysfunction, known as sarcopenia. Malnutrition is common in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). IBD includes ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD). The number of patients with IBD has recently been increasing. More severe malnutrition is often seen in CD compared to UC, probably due to CD affecting the main site of nutrient absorption, extensive mucosal lesions, fistulas, short bowel syndrome after resection, or obstruction of the gastrointestinal tract. A recent meta-analysis showed the high prevalence of sarcopenia in patients with IBD, and thus sarcopenia is a very important problem for IBD. Although IBD is more common in younger patients, sarcopenia can develop through a variety of mechanisms, including malnutrition, chronic inflammation, increased inflammatory status in adipose tissue, vitamin deficiency, and imbalance of the muscle–gut axis. In addition, sarcopenia has a negative impact on postoperative complications and hospital stay in patients with IBD. Appropriate intervention for sarcopenia may be important, in addition to clinical remission and endoscopic mucosal healing in patients with IBD. Much more attention will thus be paid to sarcopenia in patients with IBD. In this review, we outline IBD and sarcopenia, based on the current evidence.