Management - diet
Helping patients manage IBS includes giving general advice about diet and nutrition, such as:2
- · eating at regular intervals, and not rushing;
- maintaining hydration but limiting tea, coffee, other caffeine, alcohol and fizzy drinks;
- limiting high-fibre foods such as wholemeal or high-fibre flour products, insoluble fibre such as bran, and whole grains;
- limiting fresh fruit to three 80g portions a day;
- to reduce wind and bloating, eating oats (eg porridge or oat-based breakfast cereals) and up to one tablespoon of linseeds a day.
If dietary fibre is to be increased, this should be with soluble fibre such as ispaghula powder or foods such as oats.
If a patient wants to try a probiotic, they should take the product for a month to see what difference it makes. Probiotics may be effective treatments for IBS, but the British Society of Gastroenterology says it is not possible to recommend a specific species or strain. Patients wanting to use probiotics should try a product for 12 weeks and discontinue it if there has been no improvement in symptoms.2,17