Diet may be more beneficial than medication to relieve symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, study finds.
- Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which affects approximately 5% of the French population, is a disorder of the functioning of the digestive system which causes abdominal pain, spasms, burning, diarrhea and constipation, but also headaches. or even chronic fatigue.
- Dietary treatments that reduce FODMAP carbohydrate intake and increase protein may be more effective than medications in relieving IBS symptoms, a study suggests.
- After six months and a return to their usual diet, the majority of study participants continued to experience clinical improvement in their symptoms. Evidence that “diet plays a central role in the treatment of IBS,” according to the researchers.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which affects around 5% of the French population, is a disorder of the functioning of the digestive system which causes abdominal pain, spasms, burning, diarrhea and constipation, but also headaches. or even chronic fatigue.
While certain medications can relieve symptoms, making a few changes to your diet is even more effective, according to a study published in the journal The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology.
Irritable bowel syndrome: dietary or drug treatments?
To reach this conclusion, researchers from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, compared three types of treatments – two “dietary” based on nutrition and one based on medication – on a cohort of around 300 patients. adults with severe or moderate symptoms of IBS, or “functional colopathy”, for a period of four weeks.
A first group was to follow a diet favoring a low intake of carbohydrates known as FODMAPs, such as lactose-based products, legumes, onions and grains, which ferment in the colon and can cause pain if of SII. A second group received “a dietary treatment low in carbohydrates and proportionally high in proteins and fats”can we read in a communicated. The patients in the third group were, for their part, treated with “the best possible medicine” based on their most bothersome IBS symptoms.
Irritable bowel: certain diets reduce symptoms
Result, after one month of follow-up, “all groups reported significantly better quality of life, fewer physical symptoms, and fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression”. But some more than others. Thus, it appeared that, among patients who followed traditional IBS dietary advice and a low FODMAP diet, 76% had symptoms “considerably reduced”. Same order of magnitude for the group with a diet rich in proteins and fats and low in carbohydrates, with 71% improvement. The proportion, however, drops to 58% for patients who had received drug treatment.
Good news, the benefits of dietary changes persisted over time. After six months, that is to say when all study participants had more or less returned to their previous eating habits, the majority of them still benefited from a clinical improvement in their symptoms: 68%. of patients who followed the low FODMAP diet, and 60% of those who consumed very few carbohydrates. “With this study, we show that diet plays a central role in the treatment of IBS”concludes dietician Sanna Nybacka, lead author of the work.