u/HeatherForIBS

A new brain-imaging review adds yet more evidence that IBS is a physical disorder of gut-brain interaction.

Researchers analyzed prior neuroimaging studies comparing people with IBS to people without IBS. They found differences in brain areas involved with gut sensation, pain processing, emotion, body awareness, and attention.

So IBS is not just a bowel problem, and it is certainly not “all in your head.” The gut and brain constantly communicate, and in IBS that communication can become overactive, hypersensitive, or misread normal gut signals as pain or distress.

In a nutshell? This is yet more evidence that IBS symptoms are real, biological, and connected to measurable changes in gut-brain pain and sensation pathways.

We knew it!

A huge new genetic study in Neurogastroenterology is expanding how researchers think about IBS.

An international team analyzed genetic and health data from more than 2.7 million people across 22 biobanks. They found that IBS risk genes do not just involve the gut-brain axis and nervous system. Those risk genes also overlap with genes tied to metabolic health, especially triglycerides.

One key finding involved a gene called GCKR, which helps regulate how the liver handles sugar and fat. A variation in this gene is already linked with higher triglycerides and fatty liver risk. In this study, that same variation also showed up as a strong genetic signal for IBS risk.

My takeaway? IBS is a gut-brain disorder, but it’s not just a gut-brain disorder. For some people, IBS may also involve metabolism, fat processing, and your whole-body biology.

And it definitely means that checking basic metabolic markers such as triglycerides may be useful for some IBS patients.

The good news? Soluble fiber, a really helpful foundation of an IBS diet due to its gut motility regulating properties and prebiotic effects, is also key to lowering high cholesterol and triglyceride levels. So at least there's something concrete we can actually do here.

A new scientific review from Frontiers in Immunology suggests that severe, treatment-resistant constipation may begin with changes in gut bacteria that disrupt the intestinal nervous system.

There may be a chain reaction of events going on here:

1. gut dysbiosis may weaken the intestinal lining
2. this allows bacterial byproducts to interact with immune cells near gut nerves
3. if this immune response persists, it may damage the enteric nervous system and the pacemaker cells that help coordinate bowel movements.

This means idiopathic constipation (as with IBS) may not always be a slow transit motility problem.

And particularly stubborn, chronic constipation (that sounds familiar!) may actually result from a complex combination of your microbiome, immune system, gut barrier, and gut nerves.

A new meta-analysis in Gastroenterology (direct link in first comment below to avoid tripping spam filters) found no clear evidence that fecal microbiota transplantation, or FMT, helps IBS symptoms.

Researchers reviewed 13 randomized controlled trials involving 693 adults with IBS.

When all patients assigned to treatment were included in the analysis, FMT did not significantly improve IBS symptoms compared with placebo at 12 weeks.

Disappointing!

A new meta-analysis in Gastroenterology (direct link in first comment below to avoid tripping spam filters) found no clear evidence that fecal microbiota transplantation, or FMT, helps IBS symptoms.

Researchers reviewed 13 randomized controlled trials involving 693 adults with IBS.

When all patients assigned to treatment were included in the analysis, FMT did not significantly improve IBS symptoms compared with placebo at 12 weeks.

Disappointing!

A very interesting review (link is in first comment below to avoid tripping filters) has explored the current understanding of IBS pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment, with a focus on the role of histamine in gastrointestinal disorders.

Histamine is a chemical messenger your immune system releases. It's involved in allergic reactions, inflammation, and digestion. Histamine also regulates your sleep-wake cycle and cognitive function.

And histamine is key to gastrointestinal motility, visceral hypersensitivity, and immune system dysregulation.

The review also addresses histamine’s potential as a therapeutic target in IBS pain management.

Mayo Clinic is highlighting an underrecognized cause of severe bloating and visible belly distension called abdominophrenic dyssynergia, or APD.

APD is classified as a brain-gut disorder - just like IBS.

With APD, the problem is not necessarily too much gas.

Instead, even a normal amount of gas, food, or liquid can trigger the wrong gut muscle response.

In normal diaphragm movement, the diaphragm moves down briefly when you inhale, the rib cage expands but the movement is temporary. When you exhale, the diaphragm relaxes and moves back up.

With APD, the diaphragm moves downward and stays overactive in response to normal gut contents (food, liquid, or gas), instead of just moving from normal breathing.

At the same time, the abdominal wall relaxes too much instead of helping hold the belly in, so the belly wall pushes outward and creates visible abdominal distension.

The distension often worsens throughout the day, even when excess gas is not the main problem.

The issue may be abnormal gut-brain-muscle coordination.

Mayo’s approach targets that muscle pattern directly. Patients are taught specific diaphragmatic breathing exercises, often with biofeedback, to relax and reset the diaphragm while properly engaging the abdominal wall.

Mayo also reports that combining hypnotherapy with diaphragmatic breathing improved bloating in many patients and helped overall IBS symptoms as well.

An international collaboration between Australia, America, and Sweden aims to recruit people with IBS for a world-first clinical trial. You can join the clinical trial here. And you can participate from home. The research is being conducted by the University of Melbourne.

The trial will compare the effectiveness of two IBS treatments in a bid to help clinicians better match the right treatment to the right patient.

Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either the low FODMAP diet or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, with professional support from dietitians or psychologists throughout the trial.

Patients will then take part in 12 weeks of treatment entirely online from their own homes. Participation is free, and follow-ups continue for six months after the program ends to help measure long-term outcomes.

A new study (link in reply below so as not to trip spam filters) found that insomnia is extremely common in people with IBS and it directly affects IBS symptoms as well.

Researchers followed 700 IBS patients and found that nearly 39% had moderate to severe insomnia.

Those with insomnia also had worse IBS symptoms across the board.

Plus - they also had more upper GI symptoms, more body-wide symptoms, and lower quality of life scores.

What I found most interesting is that insomnia was linked less to IBS severity alone and more to the bigger gut-brain picture, including anxiety, depression, fibromyalgia, and functional dyspepsia.

In other words, poor sleep may be an intrinsic part of the same nervous system pattern whole that keeps an IBS gut more sensitive and hyper-reactive.

A huge new review and meta-analysis in the American Journal of Gastroenterology (direct link is in comment below post so as to not trip the spam filters) found that antibiotic use may increase the risk of developing IBS, especially when antibiotics are used after gastrointestinal infections.

Researchers analyzed 31 studies with more than 422,000 people and found that IBS developed in 26% of antibiotic users compared with 20% of nonusers. Overall, antibiotic users had about a 30% higher risk of IBS.

The risk was even higher when antibiotics were used for gut infections. In those cases, antibiotic users had a 71% higher risk of later developing IBS.

Broad-spectrum antibiotics in particular, during gut infections, may disrupt the gut microbiome in ways that can increase the risks of developing IBS.

I think this is even more provocative in light of the recent news that good guts have a bacteria IBS guts don’t, and that scientists just found a hidden gut bug tied to good health.

This is a pretty provocative finding that just hit:

A massive global study (link is in comment below to not trip spam filters) found a previously unknown gut bacterium, called CAG-170, that shows up consistently in healthy people around the world.

And that bacterium is much lower in people with conditions like IBS, IBD, obesity, and autoimmune diseases.

This microbe appears to help support the entire gut ecosystem, partly by producing vitamin B12 and helping other beneficial bacteria thrive.

Researchers think CAG-170 may be a key marker of gut health and could one day be targeted by next-generation probiotics designed to restore microbiome balance.

This is a pretty provocative finding that just hit:

A massive global study (link is in comment below to not trip spam filters) found a previously unknown gut bacterium, called CAG-170, that shows up consistently in healthy people around the world.

And that bacterium is much lower in people with conditions like IBS, IBD, obesity, and autoimmune diseases.

This microbe appears to help support the entire gut ecosystem, partly by producing vitamin B12 and helping other beneficial bacteria thrive.

Researchers think CAG-170 may be a key marker of gut health and could one day be targeted by next-generation probiotics designed to restore microbiome balance.

This is a pretty provocative finding that just hit:

A massive global study (link is in comment below to not trip spam filters) found a previously unknown gut bacterium, called CAG-170, that shows up consistently in healthy people around the world.

And that bacterium is much lower in people with conditions like IBS, IBD, obesity, and autoimmune diseases.

This microbe appears to help support the entire gut ecosystem, partly by producing vitamin B12 and helping other beneficial bacteria thrive.

Researchers think CAG-170 may be a key marker of gut health and could one day be targeted by next-generation probiotics designed to restore microbiome balance.

Nutshell result was a 40% lower risk of diarrhea, but the specific probiotic strains really mattered.

A new meta-analysis (link is posted in reply below to not trip spam filters) looked at multiple clinical trials in adults to see if probiotics help prevent diarrhea caused by antibiotics.

The review combined results from 15 studies with over 7,400 participants.

The main finding is really helpful!

People who took probiotics had a significantly lower risk of developing antibiotic-associated diarrhea - about a 40% reduction compared to those who didn’t take them.

The study also suggests that probiotics may help reduce infections like C. difficile, which can cause more serious GI problems and even be life-threatening.

The key factors that help the probiotics work here:

1. Start taking probiotics early in the course of antibiotics (within the first two days)
2. Take the probiotics separately from the medications (try at least two hours apart)

Overall, the study concluded that probiotics can be very helpful in preventing antibiotic-related diarrhea in adults. But - it also found results can vary depending on the probiotic strain used.

A new AGA research paper looks at medical gaslighting in gastroenterology.

This is when patients feel their symptoms are dismissed or not taken seriously.

Sound familiar?

Medical gaslighting happens all too often with IBS because:

• symptoms are real but hard to measure
• there are no clear tests
• diagnosis relies on patient reporting (and doctors who believe their patients)

Gaslighting is also more likely to happen to women, children, and marginalized groups.

Huh.

The researchers’ conclusion won’t surprise you:

"IBS patients are at higher risk of being dismissed, but their symptoms are real and deserve to be taken seriously."

Link to full study is posed in reply link below so this post will clear the Reddit filters. You can also download a PDF of the study in its entirety.