For IBS, specific diets are less important than expected – Mirage News
Many IBS sufferers avoid certain types of food and often exclude gluten. However, a large new study from Chalmers and Uppsala University does not show a relationship between high intake of gluten and increased IBS symptoms. The researchers did find that a certain type of carbohydrate called ‘fodmaps’ can aggravate intestinal problems, however, the overall results indicate that they also have less influence than previously thought.
“IBS is a very complex disease involving many factors, but our results indicate that the effects of specific diets are not as great as previously thought,” explains Elise Nordin, PhD student in Food Science at Chalmers and lead author of the scientific article, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) affects around three to five percent of the world’s population, and involves symptoms such as stomach pain, diarrhoea and constipation. In the new study, which included 110 people with IBS, the researchers examined how people were affected by serving them rice puddings prepared in different ways. One variety was rich in gluten while the other contained large amounts of carbohydrate of the ‘fodmap’ variety – that is, fermentable carbohydrates, including certain chains of fructose and lactose. Many foods are rich in fodmaps, including dairy products, types of bread and certain fruits and vegetables.
In addition to the specially prepared rice puddings, the researchers also served a neutral one that served as a placebo.
Double-blind knowledge of the rice puddings
The participants in the study ate rice puddings rich in fodmaps, gluten and the placebo in random order, for one week per category. The study was double-blind, meaning neither the participants nor the researchers knew who ate which rice pudding and when.
“Diet studies are difficult to conduct double blind, as it can often be obvious to the participants what they are eating. This is a big obstacle, as knowledge that something has been added to or removed from the diet can affect the result. The fact that we succeeded in creating diets that were completely blind, together with the large number of participants, makes our study unique,” says Elise Nordin.
The subjects’ gastrointestinal systems were provoked through high doses (1.5 times daily intake in a normal population) of fodmaps or gluten. The fodmaps aggravated the symptoms, but not to the extent that the researchers had expected based on results from previous studies. Gluten, however, was found to have no measurable negative effect on the subjects’ perceived symptoms.
“Our results are important and indicate that the psychological factor is probably very important. IBS has previously been shown to be linked to mental health. Simply the awareness that one is …….
Source: https://www.miragenews.com/for-ibs-specific-diets-are-less-important-than-695776/