There's no cure for Crohn's disease, but there are many treatments available to help with symptom management, including medications, surgery, lifestyle changes, and complementary and integrative therapies.
The treatments your doctor recommends will depend on the severity and type of symptoms you're experiencing and what parts of your digestive tract are affected.
Here’s a look at the options.
Most medications for Crohn's disease reduce inflammation and suppress the immune system. Some drugs are used to treat flares, when symptoms are at their worst. Others help prevent the return of symptoms once they've gone away.
Medications that treat Crohn’s include:
Corticosteroids
Also known simply as steroids, these drugs are used for moderately to severely active Crohn’s. They reduce inflammation and suppress the entire immune system. Because they can have significant long- and short-term side effects, steroids should only be taken for short periods of time to help control a flare and not as maintenance therapies. Corticosteroids commonly prescribed for Crohn’s disease include:
budesonide (Entocort EC or Uceris)
methylprednisolone (Medrol)
prednisone (Deltasone)
Immunomodulators
These drugs help reduce inflammation by suppressing the body’s immune system. They may take a few weeks to months to start working. Your doctor may recommend an immunomodulator if you have severe symptoms or evidence of inflammation on endoscopy or colonoscopy. Commonly prescribed immunomodulators include:
azathioprine (Imuran)
cyclosporine
6-mercaptopurine (Purinethol)
methotrexate
tacrolimus (Prograf)
Biologic and Biosimilar Therapies
Biologics are commonly used in moderate to severe disease and in mild disease when other treatments have not worked as well. They prevent inflammation by targeting proteins made by the immune system. They are given either as monotherapy or in combination with other medications and are delivered intravenously (IV) or by injection.
Commonly prescribed biologics include:
adalimumab (Humira)
certolizumab pegol (Cimzia)
infliximab (Remicade)
natalizumab (Tysabri)
ustekinumab (Stelara)
vedolizumab (Entyvio)
guselkumab (Tremfya) (approved in October 2024 to treat Crohn’s)
In January 2025, a new biologic, mirikizumab (Omvoh), was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat Crohn’s.
Biosimilars — drugs that are nearly identical to and work the same way as biologics — include:
adalimumab-atto (Amjevita)
infliximab-axxq (Avsola)
infliximab-dyyb (Inflectra)
Janus Kinase (JAK) Inhibitors
In May 2023, the FDA approved the JAK inhibitor upadacitinib (Rinvoq) for adults with moderately to severely active Crohn’s disease who haven’t responded well to or can't tolerate one or more tumor necrosis factor (TNF) blockers.
Rinvoq is the first approved oral treatment for Crohn’s disease and is a fast-acting alternative to infusions and injectable drugs. It works by blocking multiple pathways of inflammation caused by inflammatory bowel diseases.
Your doctor may recommend surgery if your symptoms aren't getting better with medicine. Surgery isn't a cure for Crohn's disease, but some people experience elief from symptoms for many years after surgery.
Commonly performed surgeries for Crohn's disease include:
Resection and Anastomosis
In this procedure, a surgeon removes the diseased part of your small or large intestine and reconnects what remains (known as anastomosis). The types of resection include:
Small Bowel Resection This is one of two procedures used to treat strictures (abnormal narrowing of the intestines). It involves removing part of your small intestine that’s been damaged by Crohn’s-related inflammation.
Ileocecal Resection This involves removing damaged tissue from the terminal ileum, the end of the small intestine, and the cecum, the start of the large intestine.
Large Bowel Resection This involves removing part of your colon (large intestine) that’s been damaged by Crohn’s-related inflammation.
Strictureplasty
Another procedure used to treat strictures, strictureplasty may be used in certain cases to reopen an area of the bowel that has become blocked (usually part of the small intestine) without removing the section altogether.
Along with standard treatments, certain lifestyle changes can help you manage your symptoms.
Diet and Nutrition
It’s important to eat a well-balanced and nutritious diet if you have Crohn’s disease. Not only can eating the right foods help you feel better, but it can also help reduce symptoms. Research suggests certain foods may help decrease Crohn’s-related inflammation. They include:
Fruits, like raspberries, bananas, or applesauce
Vegetables, such as squash, green beans, cooked carrots, and cooked or blended leafy greens
Foods containing omega-3 fatty acids, like tuna, mackerel, salmon, chia seeds, walnut butter, and flaxseed oil or meal
Cooked and reheated starches, such as rice, oatmeal, potatoes, and sweet potatoes
It’s also important to drink plenty of fluids, especially water, daily to stay hydrated.
The foods that trigger Crohn’s symptoms may vary from person to person, but some foods are more likely to lead to symptoms than others. They include:
Alcohol
Caffeinated beverages, like coffee
Foods and drinks high in added sugars, like pastries or sodas
Artificial sweeteners and sugar alcohols
Foods high in fats, like fried foods
Foods high in fiber, especially insoluble fiber, like Brussels sprouts or asparagus
Foods and drinks high in lactose, like Cow’s milk or ice cream
Spicy foods
In addition, some foods are known to increase the risk of Crohn’s-related inflammation. They include:
Red and processed meats, like steak, pork, bacon, hot dogs, deli meats, or sausages
Coconut oil
Palm oil
Dairy fat
In some cases, a doctor may recommend nutrition therapy in the form of exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) to help ease flare-ups. EEN is a liquids-only diet that can either be consumed by mouth or fed into the stomach through a tube inserted in the nose. This can give your bowels a chance to rest, which may help decrease inflammation in the short term. Some evidence suggests it’s effective for adults with Crohn’s, but it’s more commonly used in children and outside the United States. It remains controversial in Western countries, mainly because adherence is difficult. It is important to discuss with your gastroenterology team if this is an option for you.
Other specific diets have been studied for Crohn’s disease, with varying levels of evidence to support their use. They include:
Low-Residue Diet A low-residue diet involves limiting foods that are high in fiber, dairy, and whole grains. This helps reduce residue (undigested remains of fiber and other foods that lead to colonic waste) and lessen bowel irritation. A low-residue diet can reduce symptoms and help the bowel heal during an active flare-up.
Mediterranean Diet The Mediterranean diet is a popular eating pattern that promotes the consumption of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, seafood, legumes, nuts, and healthy fats like olive oil. Some research suggests following the Mediterranean diet may help reduce IBD flares.
Crohn’s Disease Exclusion Diet (CDED) CDED is a less restrictive diet that combines whole foods and liquids (partial enteral nutrition). It can be helpful for both adults and children with active Crohn’s disease.
Low-FODMAP Diet The low-FODMAP diet — an acronym for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols — is a restrictive diet that involves temporarily eliminating certain sugars and fibers that are commonly not absorbed properly by the gut, and then gradually re-adding foods that don’t trigger GI symptoms for you. Research shows that, while it can help improve some gastrointestinal symptoms, it does not reduce inflammation in IBD.
Stress Management
While stress does not cause Crohn’s disease, it can worsen symptoms and trigger flare-ups. While it’s likely not realistic to get rid of all stress in your life, certain stress reduction and relaxation techniques like exercise and deep breathing exercises have been shown to lower stress levels.
There’s also some evidence that meditation may have a positive impact on Crohn’s disease symptoms. One small study concluded that mindfulness meditation may help reduce inflammation in people with Crohn’s.
Avoid Smoking
Smoking not only raises the risk of developing Crohn’s disease, but it also worsens symptoms among people who have it. Quitting smoking can help improve your disease course, among other health benefits. Talk to your doctor if you’re having trouble quitting smoking. They can help you find a strategy that works for you.
Some people with Crohn's disease use complementary and integrative therapies — such as acupuncture or supplements, for instance — alongside conventional treatments in hopes of improving symptoms. That said, there aren’t many well-designed studies of complementary therapies for people with Crohn's disease.
Be sure to clear it with your healthcare team first before trying a new complementary therapy, especially if it’s a supplement. These products may contain ingredients that could interact with other medications you're taking. What’s more, because supplements aren’t regulated by the FDA in the same way medication is, certain supplements may contain impurities or have dangerous side effects.
There's no cure for Crohn's disease, but there are therapies available to help with symptom management. They include medication, surgery, and lifestyle changes.
The treatments your doctor recommends will depend on the severity and type of symptoms you're experiencing and what parts of your digestive tract are affected. It is important to establish care with a gastroenterologist to discuss all of the available options
Tell your doctor before trying a complementary or integrative therapy for Crohn’s, especially if it’s a supplement, to make sure it doesn’t interact negatively with your Crohn’s medication.
