What role does wheat play in the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome?

Overview

Recently, increasing attention has been paid to the pathologic role of food in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Nevertheless, healthcare providers often avoid addressing diet with their patients because of a lack of training, guideline consensus, and high-quality data. Recent literature supports the existence of a subgroup of IBS patients with undiagnosed nonceliac gluten sensitivity (NCGS), a term that is used to describe individuals who experience gastrointestinal and extraintestinal symptoms as a result of immunologic, morphologic, or symptomatic abnormalities that are precipitated by the ingestion of gluten. NCGS represents an important subgroup of patients with IBS who are highly treatable via dietary modification. Gluten may influence gastrointestinal symptoms through immune activation or alteration of intestinal permeability, but the true role of food in functional gastrointestinal symptomatology remains unclear. For example, gluten is just 1 component of the complex milieu of nutrients found in wheat and related grains, and NCGS likely represents only the tip of the iceberg as it pertains to the role of food in IBS.