A synopsis and meta-analysis of studies that investigated the association between genetic variants involved in the homocysteine/folate metabolism pathway and risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) were conducted. Four variants (MTHFR C6TTT, MTHFR A1298C, MTR A2756G and MTRR A66G) showed significant associations in individual studies. In meta-analyses, only the variant MTR A2756G indicated an association with the risk of IBD for the allele contrast and the dominant model (odds ratio (OR) 1.48 (1.12-1.97) and OR 1.55 (1.12-2.15), respectively). The effect sizes for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis were similar to IBD. Cumulative meta-analysis for C677T indicated a downward trend of association as information accumulates.