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The Diet Debate in IBS
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A revitalized interest in dietary therapies for irritable bowel syndrome is marked by accumulating data presented in the journals and at leading scientific meetings in recent years, much of which is promising, according to experts interviewed by Healio Gastroenterology.
Among the dietary interventions that have shown potential efficacy for treatment of IBS, the low fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols (FODMAPs) diet has the most available data from randomized controlled trials. Experts interviewed for this month’s cover story do not disagree that these data are promising, nor do they disagree that further rigorous randomized controlled trials are sorely needed. Where they differ is on whether enough is currently known about the low FODMAPs diet to justify recommending it to patients.
According to Paul Moayyedi, MBChB, PhD, MPH, from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, “we simply don’t have enough evidence to say whether this works or not.” Even the largest randomized controlled trial performed showed no difference in symptom improvement between the low FODMAPs diet and traditional dietary advice for IBS, he said.
Conversely, Healio Gastroenterology Peer Perspective Board Member William D. Chey, MD, from University of Michigan health system, argued that mounting data support recommending this diet to IBS patients. “I think the people who have been working with diet therapies would claim that a substantial proportion of their patients improve at least somewhat with diet strategies,” he said. “But more important than anecdotal clinical experience is the presentation of a number of different studies ... that seem to indicate a benefit for diet therapies.”
In addition, this month we present the most highly trafficked news articles from the ASCO GI Cancers Symposium, which was held from January 21 to 23 in San Francisco.
We continue to welcome your feedback on our online news coverage to better refine what you and the gastroenterology community will see in the pages of Healio Gastroenterology. Visit Healio.com/GI daily for our latest news coverage.
The Editors Healio Gastroenterology gastroenterology@slackinc.com