WORLD GASTROENTEROLOGY NEWS
Official e-newsletter of the World Gastroenterology Organisation
VOL. 23, ISSUE 2 OCTOBER 2018
In this issue
www.worldgastroenterology.org
Train the Trainers
Advanced Workshop in Portugal
Guilherme Macedo, MD, PhD, FASGE, AGAF,
FACG, FAASLD
Helena Tavares de Sousa, MD, FEBGH
Anca Trifan, MD, PhD, FRCP(London), FEBGH
Wojciech Marlicz MD, PhD, FACG
Continued on page 4
Dietary recommendations
for IBS patients
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a very common condition everywhere (despite differences
in reporting prevalence across the world) 1 and gastroenterologists are challenged
daily with issues linked to persistence of symptoms and resistance to therapy. This is a
functional gastrointestinal disorder;2 both patients and physicians associate the digestive
symptoms of abdominal pain and changes in frequency of bowel movements/consistency
of stool with food intake.
Indeed, the association between the type of meals and the digestive symptoms is so
obvious that all patients are aware of this. This is encountered in most digestive conditions:
gastroesophageal reflux disease, dyspepsia of all causes, malabsorption, etc. Therefore,
when gastroenterologists consult patients with suspected or confirmed IBS, they
have to inquire if the patients may attribute their bowel symptoms to a certain category
of food. If an association exists, physicians should decide if the symptoms represent the
expression of IBS another condition, like disaccharides intolerance, celiac disease, food
allergy, etc.
Strategy of the dietary recommendations in IBS
Knowing what foods our patients consider to be harmful is of paramount importance
because thanks to this we can decide what to recommend to our IBS patients. Indeed,
dietary indications are not only a must for the management of every IBS patient, but
are one of the most expected recommendations from our patients who consult us.
Getting information about patients’ dietary habits is usually possible during the
interview for taking the medical history via directed open questions. Using lists of foods
to be ticked off by the patient or analyzing alimentary diaries is also possible but rather
more useful for research, less for daily practice.
Thus, one should follow several steps during the medical interview of our IBS patients
(table 1):
Dan L. Dumitrascu, MD, PhD, AGAF, RFF
2nd Dept. of Internal medicine
Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy
Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Reflections from Rwanda Endoscopy
Week 2017
Cristina Rutherford, MD
Shikama Felicien, MD