Dietary treatment of the irritable bowel syndrome

Abstract

Most patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders report that food ingestion appears to exacerbate their symptoms and consequently conclude that they have some form of gastrointestinal food allergy or intolerance. Dietary management of functional gastrointestinal conditions is an attractive therapeutic option for the patient and physician alike because it is safe and economical and empowers the patient to help themselves. However, in practice, dietary manipulation frequently yields rather disappointing results. Exclusion diets can be helpful, but are labor intensive and occasionally can be very restrictive. Laboratory testing for immunoglobulin E food antibodies usually is not helpful, except in a small subgroup of patients with diarrhea, predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and atopy. There is some preliminary evidence to suggest that elimination diets based on immunoglobulin G food antibody testing may possibly have therapeutic potential in IBS, but this requires confirmation.

Alterations of food antigen‐specific serum immunoglobulins G and E antibodies in patients with irritable bowel syndrome and functional dyspepsia

“…Post-prandial worsening of symptoms as well as adverse reactions to one or more foods are common [18,19] and dietary elimination can lead to symptomatic improvements in patients with IBS [3,[20][21][22]. Recently, Zar et al [23] have shown elevated IgG titres in IBS patients while Atkinson et al [24] have demonstrated that food elimination based on IgG antibodies may be effective in reducing IBS symptoms.…”

The Food-Specific Serum IgG Reactivity in Major Depressive Disorder Patients, Irritable Bowel Syndrome Patients and Healthy Controls

“…There are numerous studies which confirm IgG hyperreactivity to food antigens in patients with IBS [ 27 , 38 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 ].…”

IgG-dependent allergy and selected gastrointestinal diseases

“…The patients adhering to the diet reported considerable improvement that was greater than the improvement observed with the intake of a probiotic. Also other researchers see the point in introducing a diet based on measurements of the levels of IgG antibodies to food antigens in patients with IBS [9,11]. However, a necessity is emphasised to carefully select research tools, i.e.…”