Study: High gluten intake does not lead to increased IBS symptoms

There’s good news for bread lovers who have irritable bowel syndrome. It turns out high consumption of gluten doesn’t lead to greater IBS symptoms.

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology and Uppsala University, Sweden have conducted a large study that found this to be the case.

The double-blind study involved 110 people with IBS. Participants were served differently prepared rice puddings. Researchers examined how people were affected by the different puddings.

One variety was rich in gluten. Another had large amounts of fodmap carbohydrates. These are fermentable carbohydrates that include certain chains of fructose and lactose. Dairy, types of breads and certain fruits and vegetables are rich in fodmaps. The third pudding, a placebo, was neutral.

The article was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

“IBS is a very complex disease involving many factors, but our results indicate that the effects of specific diets are not as great as previously thought,” said Elise Nordin, Ph.D. student in Food Science at Chalmers and the article’s lead author.

Participants ate each of the puddings in random order for a week per category. Neither the participants nor the researchers knew who ate which rice pudding when.

“Diet studies are difficult to conduct double-blind, as it can often be obvious to the participants what they are eating,” Nordin said.

“This is a big obstacle, as knowledge that something has been added to or removed from the diet can affect the result. The fact that we succeeded in creating diets that were completely blind, together with the large number of participants, makes our study unique.”

Researchers provoked the subjects’ gastrointestinal systems through high doses of gluten or fodmaps. Fodmaps were found to have aggravated the symptoms. But they weren’t aggravated to the extent that the researchers had expected based on past studies’ results. Researchers did not find any measurable negative effect on subjects’ perceived symptoms.

“Our results are important and indicate that the psychological factor is probably very important,” said Per Hellström, Professor of Gastroenterology at Uppsala University.

Hellström held medical responsibility for the study.

“IBS has previously been shown to be linked to mental health. Simply the awareness that one is being tested in a study can reduce the burden of symptoms.”

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