Inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, is a historically Western occurrence. Although mainly a problem in the United States, as the standard American diet has gone global, IBD has become more common across the globe. All that fast food, fat, and sugar could be promoting the proliferation of IBD. A recent study has found that eating a Western diet can harm the immune system in the gut and may boost the risk of infections or inflammatory bowel disease. One of the ways a high fat, high sugar diet may influence immunity is its effect on Paneth cells. Paneth cells are immune cells in the gut that are responsible for keeping inflammation in check. When these cells become impaired, the gut becomes more prone to inflammation, and the risk for IBD increases. Poorly, or non-functioning Paneth cells, for example, are a key feature of Crohn’s disease. Researchers looked at data on 400 …