FODMAP

[practiceman]

Google FODMAP. There are certain compounds in foods that can cause ibs. There are apps that can tell you what to eat to avoid an excess of these compounds that can exacerbate ibs. Helped me a lot with ibs

[xjrs]

I agree that the FODMAP elimination and reintroduction diet can help IBS. However, if there are few FODMAPS a person can tolerate, on a long term basis this can undermine the health of the microbiome since it reduces feed for the microbiome which reduces bacterial diversity. Low bacterial diversity is implicated in IBS, so you may get symptom relief for a while but in the long run it could make IBS worse. This happened to me, but I was very low FODMAP. In the end I got IBS symptoms no matter what I ate (whether low FODMAP or not).

The reason low FODMAP works, at least initially, is since it reduces feed for the microbiome, it also reduces feed for any bad bugs in the gut. However, the rub is that this also reduces feed for the good bugs in the gut which help to keep the bad bugs under control. This is catch 22.

This is why it is worth trying a good probiotic first before trying FODMAP elimination and reintroduction. This might help to keep the bad bugs under control, allowing you to eat a wider diet. The good diet feeds the good bugs, helping the good bugs to help you further keep the bad bugs under control. The best diet for the microbiome is the Mediterranean diet. Alflorex (Align in the US) worked best for me. Worst case, it might be a case of a combo of probiotic and keeping away from certain food triggers, but hopefully with the probiotic the food triggers might be less.

Useful info. Thanks for sharing, though just a cautionary note to go along with that.

[Frasina]

I also have IBD (as well as IBS) and there is a lot of controversy on just how well FODMAP works. I know of people who swear by it, but others (including myself) did not find it helped much. For those who get benefits from FODMAP then that is great but for many people, controlling symptoms really is trial and error!