Summary
Carbohydrate absorption from 100 gm of starch flour and 13.5 gm of lactulose was measured in 8 patients with irritable bowel syndrome and 4 normal controls. A wide range of hydrogen production was demonstrated but no significant inter-group variability was seen. Antibiotic therapy successfully altered colonic handling of carbohydrate in IBS patients but with no improvement in symptom score. Oro-caecal transit time was significantly faster in diarrhoea patients, suggesting abnormal intestinal motility in these patients. Colonic carbohydrate handling is unlikely to be of primary pathogenic significance in IBS.
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Afdhal, N.H., Piggott, C., Long, A.A. et al. Carbohydrate handling by colonic flora—is it pathogenic in the irritable bowel syndrome ?. I.J.M.S. 155, 197–201 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02939842
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02939842