Author Identifier
Ran Yan
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0011-2259
Mandy Murphy
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0896-3699
Angela Genoni
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8144-2131
Evania Marlow
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6013-8672
Ian C Dunican
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4000-8213
Johnny Lo
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1913-5354
Lesley Andrew
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0344-4611
Amanda Devine
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6978-6249
Claus T Christophersen
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
BMJ Open Gastroenterology
Publisher
BMJ Journals
School
School of Medical and Health Sciences / School of Science
RAS ID
32066
Funders
Edith Cowan University - Open Access Support Scheme 2020
Abstract
Introduction:
A diet low in fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols (FODMAP) is an effective way to reduce gut symptoms in people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). This diet reduces the intake of fermentable fibres, leading to changes of the gut microbiota and insufficient fermentation in the large bowel, resulting in reduced production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), such as butyrate, which has unfavourable implications for gut health, sleep and mental health. This study will examine the effect of Fibre-fix, a supplement containing a mix of dietary fibres, on the human gut microbiome composition, fermentative capacity, sleep, quality of life (QOL) and mental health of people with IBS who consume a low FODMAP diet (LFD).
Methods and analysis:
A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, study design is proposed to examine whether Fibre-fix added to an existing LFD may help modulate gastrointestinal function, improve markers of sleep, mental health and promote QOL in patients with IBS. Participants will provide stool and blood samples, daily bowel symptoms diaries and 3-day diet records. Additionally, they will complete validated questionnaires relating to FODMAP intake, sleep, mental health and QOL before and after a 3-week intervention. Gut health will be assessed via faecal microbiome composition, faecal pH and SCFA levels. Alteration of sleep will be recorded using an actigraphy device worn by all participants over the whole study. Multivariate analysis will be used to examine the gut microbiome and repeated measures Analysis of variance (ANOVA) will be used for dependent variables from questionnaires related to bowel symptoms, stool type, sleep, mental health and QOL to assess the differences between intervention and control groups after adjustment for confounding variables.
DOI
10.1136/bmjgast-2020-000448
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Comments
Yan, R., Murphy, M., Genoni, A., Marlow, E., Dunican, I. C., Lo, J., ... & Christophersen, C. T. (2020). Does Fibre-fix provided to people with irritable bowel syndrome who are consuming a low FODMAP diet improve their gut health, gut microbiome, sleep and mental health? A double-blinded, randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open Gastroenterology, 7(1), Article e000448.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgast-2020-000448