Project
Food that contributes to a better quality of life for people with an irritable bowel
Food that contributes to a better quality of life for people with an irritable bowel (IBS). That is the focus of this research project by Wageningen Food & Biobased Research.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is an illness that affects a large group of people. It is estimated that 10%-20% of the world's population suffers from some form of IBS, which decreases quality of life.
No adequate treatment
No adequate treatment is available at the moment. This is partly because of the heterogenous patient population and the complicated pathology, of which not all mechanisms are fully understood. IBS is a multi-factor illness in which the intestinal wall, the immune system, enteroendocrine cells, and the microbiota play an important role.
Changes in diet
Gastroenterologists often hear from patients that changes to their diet have the most impact on reducing the symptoms of IBS. However, it is unclear whether this is the same for every subgroup of patients, what mechanism causes this, and what food has the most significant positive impact.
The three most important objectives of this research project are:
- Increasing the insights into the underlying mechanisms regarding the pathology of PDS and how food can influence this;
- Identifying (new) links between food, food components, and/or dietary patterns and a decrease of IBS symptoms, also specifically for subgroups of PDS patients;
- Developing and optimising in vitro models which will serve as a screening tool for further research into food components and IBS symptoms.
The research is divided into three work packages:
- Work package (WP) 1 focuses on development of in vitro models that mimic IBS-related symptoms with individual or combined cell cultures. These in vitro models will be used to screen food components provided by the industrial partners to identify candidate food components that can alleviate IBS symptoms;
- In WP 2, the in vivo research (animal and human studies) is conducted to validate the above-mentioned in vitro models.
- In WP3 we examine the dietary patterns of IBS patients and the possible changes to their diet that they have already implemented to alleviate their symptoms, and which of these we can correlate to the quality of life. We also look at changes in microbiota related to the severity of IBS complaints. All work packages contribute to improving the understanding of the mechanisms behind the pathology of IBS.