Food Intolerance

Food intolerance is when your stomach is particularly sensitive and responds to foods that cause spasms and distend it with gas or fluid. With 20 to 65% of IBS patients attributing their symptoms to food intolerance, it appears that the rate of food intolerance in the IBS population is higher than in the general population.

Up to 70% of IBS patients claim that certain foods make their symptoms worse. Two-thirds of IBS patients consciously avoid particular foods. These people occasionally cut off several different foods from their diet. It's unknown why certain foods cause symptoms. While each person's trigger foods are different, some typical ones include lactose, gluten, and foods that cause gas, such as FODMAPs.