What's a low FODMAP diet and how can it help reduce the symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome?

By Mark Stevens

FODMAP is surely a strange word. It stands for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides And Polyols. Frequently it's written as FODMAPs, since you're usually talking about a collection of foods that contain FODMAPs.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has released the outcome of a King's College of London study from 2011 that found that 76% of patients who dealt with IBS symptoms reported improvement in their symptoms while following a low FODMAPs eating plan. The patients reported reductions in bloating, abdominal discomfort, and gas. You can examine the study online at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/:2161555.

According to the current theory, FODMAPs are carbs that are tough to digest for some people. When this happens, some of the food fragments pass into the colon as bigger molecules (because they weren't correctly digested). These larger molecules end up in the gut they begin to ferment. This leads to many of the uncomfortable symptoms that are very similar to Irritable Bowel Syndrome, such as bloating, gas and diarrhea.

Is reducing FODMAPs in your meal plan sure to solve your IBS issues? Not necessarily, but as you can see in the NIH study above, some IBS sufferers are achieving success with methodically identifying and avoiding FODMAPS foods one at a time.

So what foods containing FODMAPs are on the food listing that you may try avoiding? Some of the more common foods to try removing from your diet include:

- apples
- pears
- mangoes
- high fructose corn syrup (you need to avoid this one anyway)
- ice cream
- soft, unripened cheese
- asparagus
- brussels sprouts
- onions
- pasta
- soy beans

Now prior to getting excited that you may not have to consume brussels sprouts anymore, you need to know that there are many alternatives to the items noted above that may be great alternatives. We are starting to see low FODMAP resouces appearing online to track the latest findings. Some FODMAP friendly foods are:

- blueberries
- grapes
- celery
- green beans
- spinach
- quinoa (this is a great grain for everyone to try, regardless of to FODMAP sensitiveness)
- rice milk
- hard cheeses
- olive oil

The research on FODMAPs and the connection to IBS is in its early stages, and there are still a lot of questions to be answered. Before trying any of these ideas, speak with your doctor about IBS and see if temporarily removing some of the common IBS offenders from your diet could be a good approach for avoiding some of the sources of Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

About the Author:

Mark Stevens has assembled a comprehensive collection of low FODMAP diet resources, including a low FODMAP grocery shopping list to help you learn more.