Beyond Irritable Bowel Syndrome: The Efficacy of the Low Fodmap Diet for Improving Symptoms in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and Celiac Disease

Background and Aim: To evaluate the usefulness of a low FODMAP (Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols) diet on patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), non-active inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), and celiac disease (CD) on a gluten-free diet (GFD). Methods: Dietetic interventional prospective study. IBS, IBD, and CD subjects were evaluated to check if they ful-filled the Rome III criteria. Each subject was educated to follow a low FODMAP diet after being evaluated by filling out questionnaires that assessed the quality of life (QoL) and symptoms experienced (IBS-SSS and SF-36), and was reevaluated after 1 and 3 months. Results: One hundred twenty-seven subjects were enrolled: 56 with IBS, 30 with IBD, and 41 with CD. IBS-SSS showed that abdominal symptoms improved after 1 and 3 months of diet in all subjects, with significant difference among the 3 groups at T0 (average scores IBS:293 +/- 137, IBD:206 +/- 86, CD:222 +/- 65, p < 0.001), but no difference at T3 (IBS:88 +/- 54, IBD:73 +/- 45, CD: 77 +/- 49, p = ns). By analyzing the SF-36 questionnaire, we did not observe any difference between the 3 groups, in terms of response to diet (p = ns), we observed a clinical improvement from TO to T3 for most of the questionnaire's domains. Conclusions: A low FODMAP diet could be a valid option to counter abdominal symptoms in patients with IBS, non-active IBD, or CD on a GFD, and thus, improve their QoL and social relations.(C) 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel.