Background: Diverticulitis is one of the most common gastrointestinal causes of healthcare utilization and up to twenty percent of patients with diverticulitis will experience recurrence. There are no evidence-based, non-surgical interventions to prevent recurrence, but a Mediterranean diet has been proposed for secondary prevention given its anti-inflammatory benefits. We conducted a survey of patients with diverticulitis to better understand how widespread following a Mediterranean-style diet is among people with diverticulitis.

Methods: Using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), we identified people who have experienced at least one episode of diverticulitis. We asked them questions about their history of attempted dietary changes, as well as their current eating habits.

Results: 430 people completed our survey (mean age 41.8 years, mean 3.6 episodes of diverticulitis). We found that 60% of respondents have attempted some dietary change in an effort to prevent recurrence of diverticulitis or to manage ongoing symptoms, and 26% have tried a Mediterranean-style diet.

Conclusions: The Mediterranean diet is a well-known eating style and one of several dietary changes that people with a history of diverticulitis may try in order to prevent recurrence or manage ongoing symptoms.