Nutrition, Complementary and Alternative Treatments for Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Functional Constipation

Dear Colleagues,

Patients’ requests for a “holistic” treatment approach to disorders of gut–brain interaction have been steadily increasing in recent years spanning from pediatric age to geriatric population. However, this approach is often dismissed by physicians based on the perception of a lack of scientific evidence for nutrition and complementary and alternative treatment (CAM). CAM is broadly defined as medical practices neither taught widely in medical schools nor generally available in public hospitals. Regardless of the therapies employed, the CAM modality is intended to restore balance and to facilitate the body’s own healing responses, thereby ameliorating troublesome symptoms. The available literature on nutrition and CAM has been historically biased by a limited research approach in terms of sample size, randomization, outcome parameters and statistical evaluation. Several randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) have recently provided sound evidence of diet advice and CAM effectiveness in disorders of gut–brain interaction both in adults and children. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a challenging disorder that requires a multi-targeted approach for best clinical practice. Moreover, functional constipation (FC) has been repeatedly shown to often evolve into irritable bowel syndrome over the natural course of the disease. I believe it is time to approach nutrition and CAM for IBS and FC with an open mind, in order to welcome with scientific rigor our disabled patients’ requests. This Special Issue will be devoted to promoting our understanding of nutrition and CAM treatments for irritable bowel syndrome and functional constipation. In light of this, our interest must be limited to the Journal's audience. Therefore, the focus of this issue will be on diet advice, herbal remedies, probiotics and “old mama recipes” for a healthy bowel that are addressed in RCTs or quasi-RCTs for IBS and FC. Review articles, metanalysis and cutting-edge open label trials will be considered for publication as well. I believe the new information provided will stimulate innovative clinical interest in the unmet need to improve the management of irritable bowel syndrome.

Dr. Giuseppe Chiarioni
Dr. Teodora Surdea-Blaga
Guest Editors

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