People who are suffering from IBS or irritable bowel syndrome often face certain symptoms like gas, bloating, diarrhoea, constipation and severe abdominal pain. Patients often fail to keep such symptoms in control. Such symptoms might not only make the patients face a few embarrassing situations but also disturb their daily lives.
Even though there is no proper treatment for IBS, one can surely control the symptoms to lead an easier and pain free life. Like most abdominal or bowel related issues, IBS is also related to the food habits of the patients to an extent. Changing your food habit may help you to get relief from symptoms of IBS like gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhoea and abdominal pain. One of the main methods of changing your diet is by adopting the method of elimination diet. As soon as you identify the foods that are triggering such symptoms of IBS, remove them from your diet and add on substances which are helpful. Then you must keep a log book and check how your change in the diet plan is improving your health. You must also try and learn about trigger foods from medical journals and consult your doctor before changing your diet.
Is Broccoli Good for IBS?
How does broccoli effect patients of IBS. Cruciferous vegetables are the kinds of vegetables which spread the smell of sulphur when cooked. Vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts. Broccoli is also one of the primary cruciferous vegetables. It is known that broccoli contains a lot of nutrients that might help you improve your health and surely increases the nutritional level of your diet. But Broccoli is not good for patients with IBS since it works as a major trigger food even though it is not one of the FODMAP foods.
Gas Formation Due to Broccoli and a Way of Treating it
Broccoli is known to produce gas. The gas is formed due to the high level of sulphur content within the vegetable. When broccoli is taken in, the sulphur gets mixed with the chemicals inside the stomach (the chemicals like acids found in the stomach for digestion) and forms hydrogen sulphide. This leads to gas formation with a foul smell. Also it might happen that the compounds within broccoli does not break down in the small intestine and passed too quick to the large intestine, even if the bacteria in the large intestine do not cause intestinal problems, when they react with undigested food, they from raffinose component and leads to fermentation and hence the smelly gas.
Broccoli also contains fibre. Even though fibrous food is important to help IBS patient’s relieve themselves from the constipation predominant IBS, broccoli contains insoluble fibre which forms a bulk in the digestive tract and leads to gas formation and bloating.
Broccoli comes under the vegetables which constitutes a healthy diet so if you need to have broccoli then do not eat it for raw. When boiled or steamed, the sulphur is released already and the vegetables become soft. You can then have it as it will pass smoothly through the digestive tract and the digestion shall take place with no gas formation especially if you have IBS. You can also sauté, simmer or bake the same before eating.
- International Foundation for Gastrointestinal Disorders – Living with IBS: https://www.aboutibs.org/living-with-ibs.html
- Harvard Health Publishing – Foods that Fight Inflammation: https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/foods-that-fight-inflammation
- US National Library of Medicine – Sulphur in human nutrition and applications in medicine: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18254805/
- National Institutes of Health – The Role of Fiber in the Treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5215449/
Also Read:
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS): Classification and Types, Pathophysiology, Etiology, Risk Factors, Symptoms, Signs, Treatment, Investigations
- Disability Benefits For Irritable Bowel Syndrome
- What to Take for Irritable Bowel Syndrome?
- Is Green Tea Good for Irritable Bowel Syndrome?
- Is Fiber Good for Irritable Bowel Syndrome?
- Are Apples Good for Irritable Bowel Syndrome?
- Is Alcohol Bad for Irritable Bowel Syndrome?
- How Do You Get Rid of Irritable Bowel Syndrome?
