• FODMAP diet: is it effective on IBD or just overrated?
  • Mohammad Amoozadeh,1,* Maryam Jafari,2
    1. Student research committee, Anzali International Medical Campus, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Guilan,Iran
    2. Student research committee, Anzali International Medical Campus, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Guilan,Iran


  • Introduction: IBD is an umbrella under which there are several intestinal conditions including Crohn's Disease(CD), Ulcer Colitis(UC), and pouchitis abbreviated as IBD intestinal disease which cause severe inflammation, ulcers, and other structural damage. People with IBD and IBS are a large group of people who can be defined as 30-50% of patients going for gastrointestinal(GI) services or up to 25% of adults in the United States. Nowadays, pharmacological treatment is the first step of treatment. antibiotics like Rifaximin are recommended for this patient but this treatment can lead to other problems related to using antibiotics. Due to this reason, other ways that can reduce using antibiotics can help to decrease the rate of problems that resulted from using antibiotics. some diet like the low-FODMAP diet(LFD) has been shown to ameliorate FGS (functional gastrointestinal symptoms) by reducing diet-induced luminaire water, colonic gas, and, consequently, luminaire distension-induced visceral hypersensitivity. In this study, we aimed to assess the effect and safety of a low-FODMAP diet by assessing clinical and biochemical disease activity, and quality of life(QOL) in patients with IBD.
  • Methods: This is a review study that was gathered by searching keywords, IBD, Inflammatory bowel disease, and FODMAP diet in google scholar, and PubMed. After these articles were reviewed, a general conclusion was extracted from all the articles. this review was written by merging the summary of all data based on searching.
  • Results: This study reviewed 8 related studies that revealed the effect of the low-FODMAP diet. Studies indicate that the low-FODMAP can improve GI and FGS symptoms. The IBS-like symptoms were not present in 66.1% of patients after 6 weeks on LFD. LFD affected patients with ulcer colitis (59.3%) and Crohn's disease (71.9%). If we compared the patients on an LFD to those on a normal diet(ND), we understood that LFD reduced pain duration and degree of pain as well as improved in stood frequency. IBS-SSS is the score of pain, bloating/distension, and IBS-related quality of life(QOL) measured by CRP. This measurement showed that patients experiencing CRP remission had a response in both the LFD and ND groups but with a larger response in the LFD group. IBD-GOL did not improve in either the LFD or ND. This diet is also compared to the sham diet the diet that is eaten but not digested or absorbed. In UC, there was a greater reduction in IBS-SSS score following LFD. But in CD, both were equally effective in the reduction of IBS-SSS score. To sum up, LFD can relieve FGs in 56% of patients with IBD in a retrospective study and 78% of IBD patients in a prospective study.
  • Conclusion: According to the above, a low-FODMAP diet proved to moderate the symptoms of IBD. It provides sufferers with a better quality of life. According to the conducted studies, no definite conclusion can be made. The number of studies has not been enough. So more research needs to be done and then we can discuss clearly its effects.
  • Keywords: IBD, Inflammatory bowel disease, FODMAP