Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is common functional gastrointestinal disorder, which often occurs in childhood and affects nearly 20 % of school-aged children. The majority of early onset IBS continue into adulthood. Pathogenesis and etiology of IBS is still unknown, it is probably multifactorial, and involves the interaction of genetic susceptibility, perceived stress, altered pain perception thresholds, motility disturbances, food intolerances, distortions in the gut microbiome, dysfunctional brain and gut axis, and a compromised epithelial barrier function. The most common IBS symptoms are abdominal pain, bloating, increased flatulence/wind and bowel urgency. Nowadays a very promising method to treat IBS symptoms is a diet low in fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols (low-FODMAP diet). Therefore the aim of our study was to evaluate the effectiveness of low-FODMAP diet as a possible treatment for IBS symptoms among children, aged 10 to 19 years. Low-FODMAP diet is restrictive diet, therefore we also examined whether patients treated with low-FODMAP diet consume sufficient amounts of calories, dietary fibre, calcium, iron, and zinc. Patients were evaluated for IBS symptoms by a questionnaire (four-point Likert scale). All patients reported about certain relief of their gut symptoms after four-week diet. The biggest improvement was observed in the symptoms such as abdominal pain, stomach/abdominal gurgling and abdominal bloating/distension. In addition, we concluded that the included children did not ingest sufficient amount of calories, dietary fibre, calcium and zinc according to the recommended national dietary guidelines.
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