CATEGORY: GUT & DIGESTIVE HEALTH
If you’ve had diverticulitis — a painful inflammation or infection of small pouches that can form in the wall of your colon, the main part of your large intestine — your overall eating pattern may matter more than any single food you’re told to avoid. In a 2025 study that followed nearly 30,000 U.S. women, those whose diets most closely matched healthy patterns such as the DASH diet had roughly a 23% lower risk of developing diverticulitis than those whose diets matched them least.1
What Diverticulitis Is
As people age, small bulging pouches called diverticula commonly form in the colon wall. Simply having them, known as diverticulosis, usually causes no trouble. But sometimes a pouch becomes inflamed or infected — that’s diverticulitis, which can bring abdominal pain, fever, and nausea, and in serious cases needs hospital care. Because flare-ups can be so uncomfortable, many people look for ways to lower their chances of a first or repeat episode.
How the Study Worked
Researchers drew on a large U.S. study of 29,916 women aged 35 to 74, none of whom had diverticulitis, inflammatory bowel disease, or cancer at the start. Each woman filled out a detailed questionnaire about how often she ate various foods, and researchers scored her diet against several well-established healthy-eating patterns. The women were then tracked over more than 415,000 combined person-years, during which 1,531 developed diverticulitis for the first time.1
Healthier Patterns, Lower Risk
Women whose diets best fit the DASH pattern — one rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, and nuts, and lighter on red meat and sugary foods — had about a 23% lower risk of diverticulitis. Two other healthy-eating scores pointed the same way, with roughly 19% to 22% lower risk. Because this is an observational study, it shows an association rather than proof of cause and effect, but seeing the same pattern across several separate scoring systems strengthens the signal.
The Nuts-and-Seeds Myth
For decades, people with diverticulosis were warned to avoid nuts, seeds, and popcorn, on the theory that fragments could lodge in the pouches. This study adds to evidence overturning that idea: eating peanuts, nuts, and seeds was not linked to any higher risk, and neither were fruits with edible seeds. Rather than fixating on foods to fear, the findings point toward the broader quality of the diet.
Key Takeaways
- In nearly 30,000 women, a healthier overall diet such as the DASH pattern was linked to about 23% lower risk of diverticulitis.
- Nuts, seeds, and fruits with seeds were not associated with higher risk — reassuring news if you’ve been avoiding them.
- This is an observational study, so it shows a link, not proof that diet directly prevents diverticulitis.
- If you have a history of diverticulitis or a digestive condition, talk with your healthcare provider before making major changes to how you eat.
References
- Barlowe T, Anderson C, Nichols HB, Salvador AC, Sandler RS, Sandler DP, Peery AF. Diet and Risk for Incident Diverticulitis in Women: A Prospective Cohort Study. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2025;178(6):788–795. link