Diverticulitis Causes & Risk Factors

Diverticulitis Causes & Risk Factors

There is no simple answer for what causes diverticulitis. For many years, healthcare professionals thought a low-fiber diet
was a leading cause, but new research shows this might not be the case. Talk with your doctor about how much fiber you
need in your diet. While the cause isn’t 100% known, there are some risk factors for developing diverticulitis:

• Obesity
• Not exercising
• Age: Your risk starts going up when you turn 40.
• Smoking
• Some medicines: Steroids, opioids and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as aspirin and ibuprofen.
• Family traits: Researchers are studying genes to see if you are more at risk if other people in your family have had diverticulitis.
• Gut bacteria: If bacteria or stool get caught in a pouch in your colon, this may decrease the healthy bacteria and increase the disease-causing bacteria in your colon.