Food-related gastrointestinal symptoms in the irritable bowel syndrome

Background/Aims: Postprandial symptoms are common in patients with irritabl e bower syndrome (IBS). However, existing studies have come to different co nclusions about the role of food in the pathophysiology of IBS. We explored the prevalence of subjective food-related gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms a nd its relationship to clinical characteristics and psychological factors i n IBS. Methods: 330 patients with IBS and 80 healthy volunteers completed a food questionnaire developed for this study. The subjects graded their sub jective symptoms after 35 different foods and a food score was obtained by adding the item scores. The relationship between subjective food-related GI symptoms and referral status, IBS subgroup (predominant bowel pattern), se x, anxiety, depression and body mass index (BMI) was estimated. Results: In 209 (63%) of the patients the GI symptoms were related to meals. Gas probl ems and abdominal pain were the most frequently reported symptoms. Foods ri ch in carbohydrates, as well as fatty food, coffee, alcohol and hot spices were most frequently reported to cause symptoms. The food score was higher in patients than in controls (p < 0.0001). In the IBS group higher scores w ere observed in patients with anxiety (p = 0.005), and females (p < 0.001), but the results were unrelated to IBS subgroup, referral status or BMI. Th e BMI did not differ between groups. Conclusion: A majority of IBS patients consider their symptoms to be related to meals. Especially foods rich in c arbohydrates and fat cause problems. Nevertheless, the majority of IBS pati ents are normal or overweight. Female sex and anxiety predict a high degree of food-related symptoms in IBS. Copyright (C) 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel.