Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: I couldn't eat it. -nt-

If you check the board you will find many individuals with IBS cannot handle oatmeal. I am fortunate - I eat oatmeal every morning with no problems. However, I have trouble with insoluble fiber in fruits and veggies. Generally speaking it seem that individuals with IBS-C seem to be able to handle more insoluble fiber than those with IBS-D.

There are a number of different kinds of insoluble fiber. For example, the insoluble fiber composition of cereal bran is known to exacerbate IBS while the insoluble fiber composition in veggies and fruit generally seems to be more tolerable. And some foods contain functional fiber as well as dietary fiber. Functional fibers are constituents in foods that act like soluble fiber. However, the amount of functional fiber is not given in the dietary fiber listed on packaged goods. So while the label may indicate that a food contains equal amounts of soluble and insoluble fiber when the functional fiber is accounted for the food may actually contain more soluble than insoluble fiber.

Here is a good description of the different types of fiber.

One might choose to follow a general rule to eat foods with less or equal amounts of insoluble compared to soluble. However, it is not a hard to apply this rule since one cannot figure from the label on foods the actual ratio of soluble to insoluble fiber.

Individual fiber tolerances do vary considerably. There aren't any fixed dietary rules for managing IBS just guidelines. As a result you have to experiment to figure what works for you.

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

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