The team in the Department of Gastroenterology at Monash University have developed a special diet - the Low FODMAP diet to help patients with a common gut disorder called irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Symptoms of IBS are lower abdominal pain and discomfort, bloating, excessive passing of wind and altered bowel habit (can range from diarrhoea to constipation).
This diet was developed based on the information that the malabsorption of certain carbohydrates (such as lactose, fructose, GOS, fructans) can trigger gastrointestinal symptoms.
Poor absorption of FODMAPs causes them to pass the small intestine and inter large intestine to be fermented by gut bacteria and produce gas as byproduct. The strategy in the diet is to restrict all dietary short-chain carbohydrates that are poorly or slowly absorbed in the small intestine (FODMAPs) and replace them with similar foods low in FODMAPs.
This diet is not recommended to be followed for any more than 2 to 6 weeks, and both introduction to the diet and continuing the diet should be done under the prescription of a dietitian in this area after rolling out other causes if IBS.
