Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

It is nearly impossible to eat only SF except in the form of soluble fiber supplements. Most plant based foods even processed ones like white rice contain SF and IF. The SF and other functional fibers that act like SF are normally found within cells while IF is found in the cell membrane and other structures.

There is plenty of IBS research that shows IF in particular bran even in small amounts can exacerbate IBS symptoms including C. Below are reference with links to abstracts of some of these studies with some excerpts. Generally speaking IBSers including those that are predominately IBS-C appear to do better when bran is eliminated and foods that contain more SF than IF are included in the diet. However, it is possible that those with IBS-C may need more SF than those with IBS-D.

Each individual whether they are IBS-C or IBS-D has to figure out how much IF they can tolerate before their symptoms including C get worse.

References

Francis, C. Y. and P. J. Whorwell, 1994: Bran and irritable bowel syndrome: time for reappraisal. Lancet, 344, 39.

"Our impression was that bran, even in small amounts, makes IBS worse and that patients are often more aware of this than their doctors. In this study we assessed patients' perception of the effect of fibre, in particular bran, on their symptoms of IBS."

Matthew, J. V. L. and P. J. Whorwell, 1998: Bran: may irritate irritable bowel. Nutrition, 14, 470.

"Careful scrutiny of some of the bran trials does show evidence of a tendency to cause negative effects. Cann et al.21 reported that pain and urgency were significantly more frequent in patients receiving bran, and that stools became less formed in diarrhea predominant subjects. Review of Snook and Shepherd's data shows a number of patients actually becoming more symptomatic while taking bran. High rates of withdrawal in several fiber trials also suggest that the treatment was either ineffective or poorly tolerated. The problem with therapeutic trials is that they are designed to look for benefits of therapies; therefore, negative findings can sometimes, unintentionally, be overlooked."

Bijkerk, C. J., J. W. M. Muris, J. A. Knottnerus, A. W. Hoes, and N. J. De Wit, 2004: Systematic review: the role of different types of fibre in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome.. Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 19, 245-251.

"Soluble and insoluble fibres have different effects on global irritable bowel syndrome symptoms. Indeed, in some cases, insoluble fibres may worsen the clinical outcome."

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STABLE: ♂, IBS-D 50+ years - Science of IBS

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