Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

IBSers can eat gluten - gluten sensitivity is a separate condition from IBS. You can have one or the other or both, but IBS itself does not mean you cannot eat gluten.

Lactose intolerance is also a separate issue. You can have lactose intolerance or IBS or both. Regardless of whether you're lactose intolerant or not, if you have IBS you should avoid dairy.

As for your bigger question about why IBSers can't eat certain items, you need to read Heather's books and/or the info on this Website outside the Boards for a full explanation of why trigger foods - like dairy - are so bad for IBS.

And the whole thing about gluten destroying tiny fibers in the intestine - I'm not an expert on gluten sensitivity or celiac disease, but from what I've managed to pick up, it sounds to me that that's what your health store clerk was trying to sort of maybe kind of describe. That is NOT what IBS is.

HTH.

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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]

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