Fiber vs IBS?!

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), also sometimes called Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD), plagues very many people, and as a general rule of thumb, those with this condition have learned the hard way that fiber (generally a very healthful thing to have in one’s diet) is often not their friend.

Of course, it’s certainly not the worst food at hand: Avoid This Food To Avoid IBS

So, what’s this about fiber vs IBS?

The gut-healthy combination

Researchers (Dr. Evania Marlow et al.) did a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, with the participants following a low-FODMAP diet.

For more about that, see: Fruit, Fiber, & Leafy Greens… On A Low-FODMAP Diet!

Specifically, the participants received either the ur gut® fiber supplement or a placebo for three weeks, following a one-week baseline period.

As for what this fiber supplement contains: the formulation combines resistant starch* and psyllium husk. This combination works well, as the psyllium appears to slow the breakdown of resistant starch, allowing more of it to reach deeper sections of the colon before fermentation, and thus potentially reducing the excessive gas production and digestive discomfort that’s characteristic of IBS.

*For more about resistant starches, see: When Is A Fiber Not A Fiber? When It’s A Resistant Starch

Since it’s (of course) a matter of gut health, before we move on it’s worth noting the overlap between Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis, and IBS in general. These things can often get diagnosed as each other, and while some advice stays the same for each, some differs. For example, probiotics have been found effective against symptoms of IBS and ulcerative colitis, but not Crohn’s:

• Safety and Potential Role of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG Administration as Monotherapy in Ulcerative Colitis Patients
• Probiotics for induction of remission in Crohn’s disease
• Probiotics in Irritable Bowel Syndrome: An Up-to-Date Systematic Review
• The role of probiotics in the prevention and treatment of IBS and other related diseases: a systematic review of randomized human clinical trials

Now, with that in mind, what actually were the effects on the gut?

• Gut bacteria: the supplement produced significant changes in the overall composition of gut bacteria. one notable change was a 5.5-fold increase in Ruminococcus E, a bacterial group associated with good gut health. These changes occurred within just three weeks.
• Digestive symptoms: participants maintained stable IBS symptoms throughout the intervention, with no worsening of abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea, or constipation.
• Gut-related anxiety: participants taking the supplement experienced a significant reduction in gastrointestinal-specific anxiety, suggesting potential benefits beyond the obvious changes in gut bacteria.

Aside from that, the pain other finding was that participants also showed improvements in the sexual function subscale of quality of life, although sleep patterns remained unchanged.

So that’s something to think about, too!

You can read the paper in full, here: Dietary fibre blend improves gut health in patients with irritable bowel syndrome following a low FODMAP diet: a randomised, double-blind control trial

PS: you may be wondering if this supplement being tested having a “®” in the name means that the supplement company paid for this study (which is very often the case when a paper mentions a supplement or cosmetic product’s brand name like that), and in this case, the answer is “partly, indirectly”.

Because we see the funding declaration says:

❝Open Access funding enabled and organized by CAUL and its Member Institutions. The study was partly funded by the School of Medical and Health Science of Edith Cowan University.❞

…which looks neutral enough, right? But then in the competing interests declaration:

❝ur gut^® is a registered trademark with IP Australia (Trademark number 2414954), which is owned by Edith Cowan University.❞

So, not necessarily a problem, but it is a reason we’d like to see more research on the same topic. That said, everything we see here in the data is completely consistent with what we’d expect, so we don’t think anything egregiously bad is going on here. Just, we’d be remiss to not mention noticing it!

Want to learn more?

Check out:

What Is “Diet Stacking”, & Is It Beneficial?

Take care!