It’s important to allow time for fibre to work as a treatment for irritable bowel syndrome
It’s important to allow time for fibre to work as a treatment for irritable bowel syndrome.
“Many young women will complain that their symptoms are worse on a high-fibre diet, so you have to allow time for adaptation,” says Professor Terry Bolin, the head of gastroenterology at Prince of Wales Hospital.
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Insoluble fibre and resistant starch are fermented in the colon by bacteria, producing large quantities of hydrogen, methane and volatile sulphides.
“If you are going to use a dietary approach … [you] have to increase the amount of fibre very slowly so that their body adapts to the gas it produces,” says Professor Bolin.