Tea Time: Irritable Bowel Syndrome
- Definition
- Group of GI symptoms (abdominal pain, bowel movement changes) without signs of disease or damage to GI tract
- Types
- Diarrhea-dominant
- Constipation-dominant
- D/C alternating
- See your doc to rule out other causes of your symptoms
- Cause is unclear
- Treatment
- Dietary changes
- Mental Health (stress) management
- probiotics
- medicines
- Dietary approaches
- Increased fiber
- Both soluble and insoluble are important, soluble is more helpful for IBS
- Increase fiber slowly 1-3g/d, accompanied by lots of fluids
- Soluble fiber from fruits, vegetables, legumes, oats, chia seeds, psyllium husk supplement
- Avoiding gluten
- Low FODMAP diet (up to 75% of people get relief)
- Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyols
- Very restrictive elimination diet where foods are slowly added back in one at a time
- Work with an RD to make sure it is done right with minimal restriction and appropriate nutrition
- Resources
- Increased fiber