Westley Peng
Pronouns: He/Him
Research Mentor(s): Almo Regazi
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Internal Medicine Gastroenterology and Hepatology / Medicine
Program: UROP
Session: Session 1 (9:00am – 9:50am)
Authors: Westley Peng, Almo Regazi, Prashant Singh
Abstract
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a gastrointestinal disorder characterized by abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea, or constipation. Not much is known about this condition, and as such, IBS is only diagnosed by symptoms. The pathophysiology of IBS involves intestinal permeability, mucosal inflammation, mast cell activation, and visceral hypersensitivity. Prior peer-reviewed literature points to diet having an important role in the physiological changes of IBS. Fermentable, oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols (FODMAPs) are sugars that have been shown to induce IBS symptoms. Our study aims to assess the mechanism of how a diet low in FODMAPs alleviates IBS. Forty consenting IBS with diarrhea (IBS-D) patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria underwent a i) flexible sigmoidoscopy to obtain colonic mucosal samples ii) stool collection iii) serological markers of intestinal permeability and iv) saccharide excretion assay. Subsequently, they began a four-week low FODMAP diet (LFD) followed by a repeat flexible sigmoidoscopy with biopsies, stool collection, serological markers of intestinal permeability, and saccharide excretion assay. No conclusions have been drawn from our study yet, however, analysis to compare the physiologies of individuals on LFD versus individuals not on LFD, is in progress. The analysis will focus on microbiome interactions with our immune system to assess the mechanism of LFD on Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
