← Issue №4/ week of Jul 26, 2026/Motility

The Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols Diet Is Effective in Irritable Bowel Syndrome With Constipation: A Single Center Tertiary Care Clinical Practice Evaluation.

From GI Signals issue №4: what this paper found, what it changes, and where it sits against the current standard of care, reviewed by Simon Mathews, MD.

Motility prospective cohort · n=294 · Jul 30, 2026 · J Neurogastro Motil · IF 3.4

The Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols Diet Is Effective in Irritable Bowel Syndrome With Constipation: A Single Center Tertiary Care Clinical Practice Evaluation.

New evidencediet therapyIBSfunctional dyspepsiamicrobiome
Clinical takeawayFODMAP diet (already a conditional SOC option for all IBS subtypes) may be considered for IBS-C: it did not worsen constipation in this study and showed symptom relief rates similar to IBS-D, particularly in patients who shifted to IBS-U.
What it found50.7% of IBS-C patients reported satisfactory symptom relief after FODMAP restriction, similar to IBS-D (44.8%, P=0.158); 44.9% shifted to IBS-U with greater relief (74.2% vs 45.7%, P=0.019) and reduced pain (P=0.006).
ContextChallenges prior hesitation to use FODMAP in IBS-C due to constipation concerns; supports existing conditional SOC recommendation with subtype-specific data.
Refinessuggested applicable standard· American College of Gastroenterology, 'ACG Clinical Guideline: Management of Irritable Bowel Syndrome', 2021

Decision at stakethe recommendation for a limited trial of a low-FODMAP diet in IBS-C

IBS-C: chloride channel activators (strong, moderate) and guanylate cyclase activators (strong, high); AGAINST PEG products for global IBS-C symptoms (conditional, low); tegaserod reserved for women younger than 65 with ≤1 cardiovascular risk factor who have not adequately responded to secretagogues (strong/conditional, low).

From our summary of this standard, unedited — the part the paper bears on. marks omitted text. Our wording, not the guideline's; read the source for its own text. The rest of this standard includes IBS-D.

Our full summary of this standard

Diagnosis: use a positive diagnostic strategy based on Rome IV criteria rather than a strategy of exclusion (strong for cost-effectiveness, high quality; consensus for time-to-therapy), and categorize by IBS subtype (consensus). In patients with IBS and diarrhea symptoms: check celiac serology (strong, moderate) and, in those WITHOUT alarm features, fecal calprotectin (or fecal lactoferrin) plus CRP to rule out IBD (strong; moderate quality for CRP/calprotectin, very low for lactoferrin). Recommend AGAINST routine stool testing for enteric pathogens (conditional, low) and AGAINST routine colonoscopy in patients younger than 45 without warning signs (conditional, low). Anorectal physiology testing only when symptoms suggest a pelvic floor disorder and/or for refractory constipation not responding to standard medical therapy (consensus). Treatment, all subtypes: soluble, not insoluble, fiber (strong, moderate); a LIMITED trial of a low-FODMAP diet (conditional, very low); gut-directed psychotherapies for global symptoms (conditional, very low); TCAs for global symptoms (strong, moderate); peppermint suggested (conditional, low); antispasmodics for abdominal pain (conditional, low); AGAINST probiotics (conditional, very low), AGAINST fecal transplant (strong, very low). IBS-C: chloride channel activators (strong, moderate) and guanylate cyclase activators (strong, high); AGAINST PEG products for global IBS-C symptoms (conditional, low); tegaserod reserved for women younger than 65 with ≤1 cardiovascular risk factor who have not adequately responded to secretagogues (strong/conditional, low). IBS-D: rifaximin (strong, moderate); alosetron only for women with severe IBS-D who have failed conventional therapy (conditional, low); mixed opioid agonists/antagonists, i.e. eluxadoline (conditional, moderate); AGAINST bile acid sequestrants (conditional, very low).

American College of Gastroenterology, 'ACG Clinical Guideline: Management of Irritable Bowel Syndrome', 2021 · reviewed 2026-07-21 ↗
Martin LD, Fragkos KC · Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility · IF 3.4 · PubMed ↗Permalink
← Read the whole of issue №4 Every paper GI Signals surfaces gets a page like this one. All issues