Environmental factors (exposome) associated to Inflammatory Bowel Disease development

Resumen

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is multifactorial, with interactions between genetic susceptibility (genome), individual immunological factors (immunome), gut microbiota (microbiome), and environmental exposure (exposome). The exposome start their action in intrauterine life going through childhood to adulthood and acts as a likely trigger for the disease. Changes in the exposome favor the emergence of autoimmune diseases reinforced by non-modifiable genetic factors over the years, therefore the epidemiology of IBD might vary between countries, probably linked by the interaction between different gene pools and distinct environmental factor exposure. This article aims to review the main environmental factors related to the development of inflammatory bowel disease.