According to a new study, the fault of the irritable bowel would be the excess of gluten in the diet in one case out of four of those examined: a diet rich in gluten, often used as modified starch in industrial preparations, would lead to ailments very similar to those best. known as ‘irritable bowel syndrome’. Excessive bloating and a feeling of heaviness, abdominal cramps, gas, bowel problems, digestive problems. The studio, called Glutox, would be conducted by the authoritative AIGO, the Italian Association of Gastroenterologists and Hospital Endoscopists, in collaboration with the Center for the prevention and diagnosis of celiac disease of the IRCCS Ca ‘Granda Foundation Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico di Milano. The data were presented in Vienna during the United European Gastroenterology Week. 

The Glutox study  tried to give an explanation to people’s growing interest in gluten and gluten sensitivity which many refer to as a pathological condition complete with disorders, but which so far, not being diagnosable as celiac disease, had left doctors doubtful. In fact, according to the Glutox study, not only gluten sensitivity existsand, but it is a real pathology with symptoms very similar to those of the irritable bowel. This is still a preliminary study, but the researchers have already spoken clearly: one in four cases of people suffering from irritable bowel syndrome actually have a sensitivity to excess gluten. To prove this thesis, it was enough to subject patients who complained of digestive problems from irritable bowel syndrome to a gluten-free diet: the new diet lasted three weeks, and then gluten was reintroduced. Twenty-six percent of the patients who had had their symptoms disappeared again suffered with the reintroduction of gluten into the diet. For them it would be enough to try a diet similar to that of celiacs to see the problem disappear forever.