[Justification for the use of a FODMAP diet in patients with irritable bowel syndrome: focus on small intestinal disaccharidase activity].

Abstract

Background: The current study hypothesized that gastrointestinal symptoms would improve following a low-FODMAP diet in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) due to reduced load on enzyme systems and normalization of the activity of disaccharidases involved in the final assimilation of carbohydrates.

Aim: To evaluate the effect of a low-FODMAP diet on the dynamics of disaccharidase activity in patients with IBS who have symptoms of food intolerance.

Materials and methods: The study included 20 patients with IBS aged 18 to 50 years: median 32.0 years, Q1 = 27.0, Q3 = 38.0, p-value (Shapiro-Wilk) < 0.05. Complaints were collected from patients, dietary history was analyzed with an emphasis on intolerance to FODMAP products and the occurrence/intensification of clinical symptoms when eating dairy products. All patients underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy with a biopsy from the subbulb of the duodenum to determine the activity of four intestinal carbohydrates: lactase, sucrase, maltase and glucoamylase according to the Dahlquist method as modified by N.I. Belostotsky. The control group consisted of 30 apparently healthy people, comparable in age and gender to the examined IBS patients. Among them were 10 men and 20 women (average age - 31.2 ± 9.2 years). The activity of intestinal enzymes in this group was within the reference values. Statistical processing of data was carried out using the computer program Statistica 8.0 (StatSoft Inc, USA).

Results: The analysis of enzymatic activity showed that initially the level of intestinal carbohydrates in patients with IBS was reduced compared to the control group. 2 months after following the low-FODMAP diet, the activity of all enzymes studied increased, but a statistically significant increase was noted only for lactase and sucrase (p < 0.05). Clinical improvement was observed with adherence to the low-FODMAP diet, decrease in the number of patients with complaints of pain, bloating, rumbling in the abdomen, nausea and diarrhea syndrome, however, a statistical difference was found only for bloating and diarrhea (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Reducing the substrate load on the enzyme systems of the small intestinal mucosa can help improve clinical symptoms in patients with IBS with symptoms of intolerance to foods containing FODMAPs and have a positive effect on the activity of intestinal enzymes.