Peter Lipták, Martin Schnierer, Lenka Nosáková, Rudolf Hyrdel
Irritable bowel syndrome is a chronic or chronically relapsing illness presenting with abdominal pain accompanying with
diarrhoea, constipation or alternating both. Although it does not shorten the life span or lead to increased mortality,
patients with IBS have a significantly reduced quality of life. The prevalence of the disease is reported around 10-30%
of the world population. The disease mainly refers to active persons aged 20-50 years. The pathophysiology of irritable
bowel syndrome is complicated and to date not fully elucidated. For the understanding of the origin of symptoms, it is
important to take into consideration the brain-gut axis. This model assumes a correlation between the external effects
on the central nervous system and the subsequent two-way signal pathway between central, autonomous and enteric
nervous system and the gut microflora. According to the results of the latest research, the food group known by the
acronym FODMAP contributes to highlighting of the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. Limiting their intake can
lead to alleviate the symptoms in approximately 70% of patients. It is, therefore, appropriate to include the doctor controlled
diet when considering the therapeutic approach in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.