Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of inflammatory conditions of the colon and small intestine. The chief types of inflammatory bowel disease are Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (UC). Inflammatory bowel diseases fall into the class of autoimmune diseases, in which the body’s own immune system attacks elements of the digestive system.  It is important to note that not only does Crohn’s disease affect the small intestine and large intestine, it can also affect the mouth, esophagus, stomach and the anus whereas ulcerative colitis primarily affects the colon and the rectum. IBD resulted in a global total of 51,000 deaths in 2013 and 55,000 deaths in 1990. The increased incidence of IBD since World War 2 has been linked to the increase in meat consumption worldwide, supporting the claim that animal protein intake is associated with IBD. Inflammatory bowel diseases are increasing in Europe.

In the present book, fifteen typical literatures about inflammatory bowel disease published on international authoritative journals were selected to introduce the worldwide newest progress, which contains reviews or original researches on medical science, autoimmune diseases, inflammatory disease, epidemiology, ect. We hope this book can demonstrate advances in inflammatory bowel disease as well as give references to the researchers, students and other related people.