Abstract
Food ingestion is heavily implicated in inducing symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and functional dyspepsia (FD), which affect over one-third of adults in developed countries. The primary aim of this paper was to assess the alignment of dietary assessment and symptom-reporting capture periods in diet-related studies on IBS or FD in adults. Secondary aims were to compare the degree of alignment, validity of symptom-reporting tools and reported significant associations between food ingestion and symptoms. A five-database systematic literature search resulted in 40 included studies, from which data were extracted and collated. The food/diet and symptom capture periods matched exactly in 60% (n = 24/40) of studies, overlapped in 30% (n = 12/40) of studies and were not aligned in 10% (n = 4/40) of studies. Only 30% (n = 12/40) of studies that reported a significant association between food and global gastrointestinal symptoms used a validated symptom-reporting tool. Of the thirty (75%) studies that reported at least one significant association between individual gastrointestinal symptoms and dietary intake, only four (13%) used a validated symptom tool. Guidelines to ensure that validated symptom-reporting tools are matched with fit-for-purpose dietary assessment methods are needed to minimise discrepancies in the alignment of food and symptom tools, in order to progress functional gastrointestinal disorder research.
Highlights
More than one-third of adults in developed countries have chronic unexplained gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms that are classified as a functional GI disorder (FGID) [1,2]
11,659 citations were screened on titles and abstracts
The 40 included not available for individual FGID symptom assessment. These results highlight the studies were conducted in 20 countries—of which, 12 were conducted in Europe/United need for validated symptom-reporting tools that are matched with fit-for-purpose dietary assessment
Summary
More than one-third of adults in developed countries have chronic unexplained gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms that are classified as a functional GI disorder (FGID) [1,2]. Nutrients 2019, 11, 2590 high prevalence and characteristic features, the etiopathogenesis of FGIDs are poorly understood, and there are no existing objective diagnostic tests. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and functional dyspepsia (FD) are the most prevalent FGIDs [5,6]. These conditions are highly heterogeneous, IBS can be subtyped into constipation-dominant IBS (IBS-C), diarrhoea-dominant IBS (IBS-D), IBS with mixed bowel habits (IBS-M) and unclassified IBS (IBS-U) [3,7] and FD is classified as either Postprandial. Diagnosis is reliant on a patient-reported rating of gut symptoms, which do not account for associated extra-intestinal symptoms such as anxiety, depression and fatigue [4,8]
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