REVIEW article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Clinical Nutrition
This article is part of the Research TopicFODMAPs: Advances in Research and Clinical PracticeView all 8 articles
Advances in the Mechanism of Low FODMAP Diet in the Treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Review
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Gastroenterology, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
- 2Department of Gastroenterology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Shanghai University (Wenzhou Central Hospital), Wenzhou, China
- 3The Dingli Clinical College of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China
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Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a functional gastrointestinal disorder characterized by abdominal pain associated with changes in stool consistency or bowel movement frequency. It is a highly prevalent chronic relapsing disorder that substantially impairs patients' quality of life and elevates societal healthcare costs. The low fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols (FODMAP) diet has emerged as a cornerstone dietary intervention for IBS owing to its demonstrated efficacy in alleviating symptoms. This article systematically reviews the progress in understanding the mechanism of the low FODMAP diet in the treatment of IBS, covering key dimensions such as reduced intestinal gas production, osmotic regulation, gut microbiota balance, abnormal intestinal fermentation, intestinal inflammatory and immune activation, and improvement in the gut-brain axis function. Additionally, this article reviews predictors of treatment response and outlines future research priorities based on recent evidence.
Keywords: Gut Microbiota, gut-brain axis, immune activation, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Low FODMAP Diet, Metabolites
Received: 05 Oct 2025; Accepted: 12 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Chen, Zhang, Du, Jin and Dai. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ning Dai
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