Table of Contents:
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome
- Gluten-free
- Celiac
Can a gluten free diet help those with Irritable Bowel Syndrome?
The anecdotal health benefits of a gluten-free diet have long been touted by those who believe that staying away from gluten is the key to a healthy life. Despite the prevailing medical opinion that going gluten-free only benefits those with a condition called celiac disease, a number of studies are surprisingly supportive of the contrary.
In a recent study published in the International Journal of Colorectal Diseases, researchers sought to find whether certain individuals with gastrointestinal problems could benefit from avoiding gluten in the absence of a celiac disease diagnosis.
In the study spanning a 1 year period of gluten abstinence covering 35 participants with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, it was shown that 34 percent were, in fact, sensitive to the presence of wheat in the diet and benefited from eliminating gluten from their diet.
This small scale but long term study further supports the belief that other medical conditions can reap the benefits of a gluten-free lifestyle as long as strict adherence is followed.
Long-term response to gluten-free diet as evidence for non-celiac wheat sensitivity in one third of patients with diarrhea-dominant and mixed-type irritable bowel syndrome.
