Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: High fat foods and constipation

Hi there - I agree that trying Benefiber is a good idea. The powders work better than pills from some people, and you'll get a higher dose with Benefiber as well.

Do you mean you drink six glasses of water a day? That could actually be increased - you could double it easily. It's amazing how much water you really need to drink for your GI tract to function well.

Also - fat is the single greatest digestive tract stimulant. When food enters your stomach, it triggers the gastrocolic reflex, which makes your colon start contracting. Fat will trigger the reflex more powerfully than any other type of food. So, this sounds like something that would trigger a bowel movement, which is what you want since you're constipated, right? There's a catch...people with IBS do not have a normal gastrocolic reflex response, and their colons tend to spasm irregularly and often too strongly. If those spasms are too strong they'll actually "seize up" the colon in a type of charley horse, and motility will stop cold. This will cause severe pain, from the ongoing cramping of the colon, and it will also cause or worsen constipation, because motility has shut down and nothing is moving through. Only when the muscles finally relax will you feel a little better, but it may take even longer after such a muscle spasm for normal motility to restart. This is why high fat foods can worsen constipation for IBS folks.

There's a corollary way that high fat foods worsen diarrhea for IBS folks (the muscle spasms result in gut contractions so fast and hard they rush matter through the colon, without enough time for water to be absorbed, causing pain from the spasms and diarrhea from the hypermotility).

So, though it sounds odd, high fat foods can be triggers for BOTH diarrhea and constipation if you have IBS. Soluble fiber normalizes bowel function from either extreme - that's why it helps both diarrhea and constipation.

I would add in as much insoluble fiber as you can, very carefully. Follow the guidelines, and to be very safe puree your fruits and veggies completely. Make fruit smoothies, veggie soups or pasta sauces you run through the blender, veggie dips for bread or baked corn chips, etc. Pureeing the foods will really minimize the risk of the insoluble fiber and let you eat quite a lot of it, which will help the constipation without risking an attack.

Best,
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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