The Primary Study On The Food Allergy In Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Background and ObjectivesIrritable bowel syndrome(IBS), very common in the world, is a group of gastrointestinal functional disorders being short of abnormality in morphology and biochemistry. The incidence in common population is 9% to 25%, which accounts for about one third to half in the outpatients of gastrointestinal clinic. It was reported that the medical expenses for IBS were about 8 billion US dollars one year in America. This disease influenced the patient's work, study and life and increased the burdon on social economy.The cause of IBS is not yet determined. So up to now, there is no effective method to prevent and cure this disease. It is of great social significance to pursue the causes and pathogenesis of IBS and look for appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic measures for it.It was reported that IBS was associated with diet. The symptoms of IBS are usually induced or aggravated by diet. In patients with IBS, the mastocytes, one of the immune-active cells, gathered at the local intestinal mucosa and activated. Furthermore, there were positive correlation between the number of activated mastocytes and severity of symptoms. The mastocyte-membrane stabilizer, mastocyte-media inhibitor and antidepressant drugs which have effective anti-histamine effects could lessen the symptoms of patients with IBS. The incidence of IBS in populations with positive food allergy is obviously high. It suggests that food allergy may be associated with IBS.The side-effects caused by diet include food allergy and food intolerance, which...