New 'designer' dietary fiber may eliminate side-effects of IBS treatment

A newly-developed "designer" dietary fiber may eliminate the side effects of current treatment for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).

The designer dietary fiber with an added potential prebiotic effect can help reducing the side effects of the treatment for the syndrome which affects 10-20 percent of the population.

The research has developed a natural starch derived from a mixture of seaweed and starch in which the release of starch fiber in the gastrointestinal tract can be delayed, slowed and controlled to occur in the colon, rather than in the stomach and upper intestine.

Dr. Ece Mutlu said that this new product prevents the discomfort and bloating associated with current fiber therapies, while getting our new fiber into the colon and specifically distal colon where traditional fiber products typically do not reach and where many diseases of colon-like cancers develop.

She added that the product which is a result of the collaboration between a gastroenterologist at Rush and a carbohydrate chemist at Purdue University can provide an effective treatment for IBS, decrease the risk of colon cancer and possibly inflammatory diseases like colitis.