Irritable Bowel Syndrome symptoms
Can it be improved by an exclusion diet?
Many patients with irritable bowel syndrome or IBS think that they are victims of an allergy or an intolerance to certain foods.
Allergies generally involve an IgE elevation, but few studies have focused their interest on the potential role of IgG. The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness of an exclusion diet based on the presence of IgG antibodies specific to foods excluded in patients with IBS.
THE METHOD
A controlled and randomized double-blind clinical study was done on a cohort of 150 randomly selected outpatients. These patients all had a blood test to detect pre-determined IgG anti-food antibodies. Only titers > or = 3:1 were regarded as positive.
The cohort was divided into 2 groups. Each group followed a different exclusion diet for 3 months:
Group 1 followed an exclusion diet based on foods that tested positive.
Group 2 followed an exclusion diet based on the same number of foods but ones that tested negative.
The study analyzed the severity of digestive symptoms, the presence of non-digestive symptoms, quality of life and mental effects (anxiety/depression). This qualitative study was measured in terms of changes in the severity of symptoms.
General improvement was also analyzed on a scale of 7 points with only “better” or “excellent” as improvement criteria.
It also took into account patients who were excluded during 3 months of tests.
RESULTS
The diet by exclusion based on the positive tests was clearly superior in terms of reducing the severity of symptoms (average improvement 34.95%, CI: 17.3, 68.6; p= 0.049). However, this improvement is based on the patient’s ability to adhere to an exclusion diet.
The analysis also revealed the superiority of this diet in improving general symptomatology.
CONCLUSION
A significant clinical improvement was observed in patients with irritable bowel syndrome who were prescribed an exclusion diet based on the results of measuring specific IgG.
