Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of participants with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) before intervention.
| Group A | Group B | Group C | p-value† | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low-gluten (n = 7) | Mid-gluten (n = 9) | High-gluten (n = 9) | GFD (n = 15) | Normal diet (n = 10) | ||
| Age (years) | 43.1 ± 8.9* (35–57) | 31 ± 5.6 (22–38) | 37.2 ± 11.9 (21–59) | 35.8 ± 10.6 (18–57) | 37.5 ± 10.1 (27–55) | 0.18 |
| Weight (kg) | 70.7 ± 8.12 (60–81) | 73.3 ± 9.34 (63–88) | 67.9 ± 11.2 (52–84) | 74.7 ± 11.3 (55–91) | 73.4 ± 12.8 (54–96) | 0.69 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 25.3 ± 2.1 (22.5–28.8) | 26.8 ± 3.7 (23.6–35.3) | 25.6 ± 4.8 (18.7–33.2) | 26.1 ± 4.4 (20.3–37) | 24 ± 4.6 (17–32.1) | 0.60 |
| Gender | 0.81 | |||||
| Male | 4 (57.1%) | 3 (33.3%) | 3 (33.3%) | 8 (53.3%) | 8 (80%) | |
| Female | 3 (42.9%) | 6 (66.7%) | 6 (66.7%) | 7 (46.7%) | 2 (20%) | |
| IBS type | 0.81 | |||||
| C | 4 (57.1%) | 4 (44.5%) | 3 (33.3%) | 5 (33.3%) | 5 (50.0%) | |
| D | 2 (28.6%) | 3 (33.3%) | 3 (33.3%) | 7 (46.7%) | 4 (40.0%) | |
| M | 1 (14.3%) | 2 (22.2%) | 1 (11.1) | 2 (13.3%) | 1 (10.0%) | |
| U | 0 | 0 | 2 (22.3%) | 1 (6.7%) | 0 | |
| Marital status | 0.25 | |||||
| Single | 0 | 4 (44.4%) | 4 (44.4%) | 5 (33.3%) | 2 (20.0%) | |
| Married | 7 (100%) | 5 (55.6%) | 5 (55.6%) | 10 (66.7%) | 8 (80.0%) | |
| Education | 0.74 | |||||
| Primary | 1 (14.2%) | 2 (22.2%) | 3 (33.3%) | 4 (26.7%) | 2 (20.0%) | |
| Secondary | 3 (42.9%) | 1 (11.1%) | 3 (33.3%) | 6 (40.0%) | 5 (50.0%) | |
| University | 3 (42.9%) | 6 (66.7%) | 3 (33.4%) | 5 (33.3%) | 3 (30.0%) | |
| Smoking | 0.18 | |||||
| Yes | 0 | 2 (22.2%) | 2 (22.2%) | 1 (6.7%) | 4 (40.0%) | |
| No | 7 (100%) | 7 (77.8%) | 7 (77.8%) | 14 (93.3%) | 6 (60.0%) | |
Group A: Patients receiving special bread containing 8 g/day gluten for 2 weeks; gluten-tolerating subjects received 16 g/day for 2 weeks and then 32 g/day for a further 2 weeks. Group B: Patients following a low-FODMAP strict GFD for 6 weeks. Group C: Patients receiving a regular gluten-containing diet for 6 weeks.
IBS type: IBS-C (constipation), IBS-D (diarrhea), IBS-M (mixed) and IBS-U (unsubtyped).
*Mean ± standard deviation (min–max).
†Using the Kruskal–Wallis test for numeric data and the chi-square test for categorical data.