IBS Patients found to have lactose intolerance and fructose malabsorption

Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) are often diagnosed with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth but seldom tested for carbohydrate malabsorption.  To look at this issue of carbohydrate malabsorption a research group in Germany studied 2,390 IBS patients.  Each patient received a hydrogen breath test for fructose malabsorption and lactose intolerance.  The result was that 35% of the patient tested positive for lactose intolerance and 64% for fructose malabsorption.  This lead the researchers to conclude that lactose and fructose intolerances are a frequent but underestimated condition in patients with IBS symptoms.

Ref: J Neurogastroenterol Motil Vol 20, No. 2 April 2014

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24840375