Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

Hi - Well, everything I've seen from Atkins lumps all sugars together much as they lump together most carbs (and they're all "evil"). There are lots of different sugars, though. Fructose (a fruit sugar) can cause gas, diarrhea, and cramps in people who don't even have IBS. And many folks with IBS are fructose-intolerant as well. Lactose (milk sugar) is a notorious GI assailant, again for many folks who don't even have IBS. Raffinose, a bean sugar, takes special digestive enzymes to process, and if you're not regularly eating beans (and this can include soy) you won't necessarily have enough of these enzymes (the solution is to gradually introduce beans/soy, and your body will adapt).

What most people think of as sugar (brown sugar, white granulated sugar, powdered sugar, etc.) that you cook with or stir into drinks is actually sucrose (usually refined from cane or beets). Sucrose is not a GI tract stimulant or irritant, and there isn't any evidence that it would affect IBS one way or the other. It is absolutely not comparable to fructose or lactose in terms of triggering GI problems. It's also not a health food, so there's no harm in avoiding it completely, and because it is a very highly refined food that is nothing but simple carbohydrates with no nutritional value, it is good sense to not eat a lot of it.

Tell you the truth, I was anticipating from day one that there would be some Atkins folks popping up on this board, and though they'd be welcome to lurk they would not be welcome to post. So I'm glad that hasn't happened.

- Heather

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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!

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