Psyllium husk is an excellent source of both IF and SF. I used it regularly for many years. It is the soluble fiber supplement most tested in clinical trials and frequently recommended by doctors. In 2007 the British Gastroenterology Society and recently the US College of Gastroenterologists released guidelines for the practical treatment of IBS. Both organizations reported that psyllium is moderately effective for managing IBS.
I also recalled reading on the website that psyllium made symptoms worse which was contrary to my experience. While researching the topic I came across a discrepancy between an abstract report in the research library and the actual abstract of the original article published in the prestigous GI research journal GUT.
The original article concluded "Conclusions: Consumption of a high fibre diet retards intestinal gas transit by decreasing bolus propulsion to the rectum. Thus, in addition to increasing gas production by colonic flora, fibre ingestion may elicit gaseous symptoms by promoting gas retention."
The conclusion mistakenly reported in the library was "Conclusions: Consumption of a high psyllium fibre diet retards intestinal gas transit by decreasing bolus propulsion to the rectum. Thus, in addition to increasing gas production by colonic flora, psyllium fibre ingestion may elicit gaseous symptoms by promoting gas retention."
The word "fibre" was replaced with the words "psyllium fibre" throughout the reported abstract. This mistake leads to the questionable conclusion that psyllium is responsible for increase gas retention when in fact the research actually reported that fiber maybe responsible for increase gas retention. I reported this error to Heather in March of last year.
This small study on 10 healthy subjects artificially injected mixtures of gases through a tube into jejunum and collected the expelled gas. The authors acknowledge that it is unclear whether pysllium or other fiber supplements affect the transit of naturally produced GI gases in the same manner. Also, the psyllium was taken with normal meals that contained other dietary fibers. The effects of the psyllium could have been confounded by dietary fibers in the meals.
Perhaps the misreported abstract partially contributed to some of the negative comments about psyllium fiber increasing intestinal gas in some IBSers.
-------------------- STABLE: ♂, IBS-D 50+ years - Science of IBS
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Re: Psyllium Husk
