Keith McIntosh, MD
Title: “FODMAPS alter symptoms and the metabolome of patients with IBS: A randomized controlled trial.”
Gut 2017; 66:1241-1251
This article was cited 65 times.
This study looked to gain mechanistic insights and compared effects of low FODMAP and high FODMAP diets on symptoms, the metabolome and the microbiome of patients with IBS. In acontrolled, single blind study of patients with IBS (Rome III criteria) randomised to a low (n=20) or high (n=20) FODMAP diet for 3 weeks, symptoms were assessed using the IBS symptom severity scoring (IBS-SSS). The metabolome was evaluated using the lactulose breath test (LBT) and metabolic profiling in urine using mass spectrometry. Stool microbiota composition was analysed by 16S rRNA gene profiling. The article concluded that IBS symptoms are linked to FODMAP content and associated with alterations in the metabolome. In subsets of patients, FODMAPs modulate histamine levels and the microbiota, both of which could alter symptoms.