Which foods and drinks can make IBS symptoms worse?

Which foods and drinks can make IBS symptoms worse?

Lin Chang (UCLA Division of Digestive Diseases) gives expert video advice on: Will my IBS symptoms get better?; Is there a cure for IBS?; What treatments can relieve IBS symptoms? and more...

There's a lot of interest in what's the IBS diet. And there's no IBS diet, unfortunately. But I do believe that a lot of patients will complain of worsening symptoms, particularly with fatty foods. Some of the patients with diarrhoea actually don't really like spicy or caffeinated drinks or foods, because caffeine tends to stimulate the bowel. Patients with constipation like caffeine sometimes because that can stimulate the bowel and that's what they need. So it can vary depending on what your symptoms are, but in general, fatty and spicy foods are not well tolerated. This hasn't been proven by scientific evidence, but I will say just by experience that patients report a lot of times that when they eat a larger meal, that they get more symptoms. And I think it's because the food itself is a stressor and because it's causing distension of the bowel and probably stimulating the bowel more than you would want it to.