Dodgy Stomach? Here Are Some Foods That Could Be Triggering Your IBS, According To REDDIT

Whether your stomach is rumbling with hunger or youâ€™re struggling with indigestion, we have all heard our gut make noises at inconvenient times.

For most of us, we dismiss these symptoms as fairly normal but for others, they may happen more frequently if they suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).

IBS is a common digestive condition that impacts everyday life for those who suffer from it and can be very uncomfortable to live with. Diarrhea, stomach cramps, and constipation are just some of the symptoms people struggle with.

The cause of the condition isnâ€™t known although a number of possible reasons include:

Stress
Oversensitive nerves within your gut
Food sensitivities
Family history of IBS

While there is no definitive cause or cure, there are things you can do to reduce the impact of IBS symptoms and one of those is monitoring and changing your diet.

But which foods tend to be triggering IBS flare-ups the most?

To find out, we took to Redditâ€™s IBS sub to determine which foods are the most posted/talked about in the sub of 76,000 members. We selected 50 common foods tested in our food sensitivity tests and cross-referenced these with posts from Redditâ€™s IBS thread over the past year.

Unsurprisingly, tea and coffee were high scorers thanks to their high caffeine content. Tea was the most popular food with 248 posts while coffee was a close second with 246 posts.

Household staples garlic and potato also make it into the top five with 224 and 211 posts respectively.

Ranking towards the bottom of the table, peppercorn, saffron, haddock, and blackcurrant appear to be the foods less talked about in relation to IBS flare-ups with no posts mentioning them throughout the past year. However, just because they werenâ€™t mentioned, doesn’t mean they donâ€™t affect people with IBS as people will often have different reactions to foods.

Reddit: Top 50 most common IBS-triggering foods

Rank	List of ingredients	No. of posts
1	Tea	248
2	Coffee	246
3	Rice	245
4	Garlic	224
5	Potato	211
6	Chicken	205
7	Apple	154
8	Tomato	111
9	Oat	110
10	Peanut	94
11	Carrot	84
12	Almond	82
13	Beef	76
14	Spinach	64
15	Turkey	51
16	Lettuce	47
17	Strawberry	43
18	Green Tea	36
19	Tuna	33
20	Pork	30
21	Cucumber	28
=21	Cabbage	28
=21	Cauliflower	28
24	Turmeric	27
25	Salmon	26
26	Sunflower Seeds	18
=26	Quinoa	17
=26	Celery	17
29	Vanilla	16
30	Cinnamon	14
=30	Brussel Sprouts	14
32	Duck	9
33	Oyster	8
=33	Cherry	8
=33	Paprika	8
=33	Walnut	8
37	Sesame Seed	5
38	Cowâ€™s Milk	3
=38	Thyme	3
=38	Lamb	3
41	Cod	2
=41	Parsley	2
43	Sheepâ€™s Milk	1
=43	Crab	1
=43	Chili Pepper	1
=43	Cocoa Bean	1
47	Haddock	0
=47	Blackcurrant	0
=47	Peppercorn	0
=47	Saffron	0

Expert Nutritionist at YorkTest, Kerri Ferraioli commented on the research:

â€œItâ€™s incredibly interesting to see the wide varieties of foods on this list and will make many sufferers of IBS think twice when deciding on their diets and identifying food sensitivities.â€

â€œCaffeine is one of the ingredients that has long been implicated as a trigger for IBS so itâ€™s unsurprising to see coffee and tea rank so highly.

â€œWhile itâ€™s important to identify your food sensitivities, people should not be engaging in elimination diets on their own accord. One of many options is to do a food sensitivity test and put your mind at ease without depriving your body of what it needs.

â€œItâ€™s important to have a healthy balanced diet and a nutritionist or dietician can help you do that safely.â€

To find out more about IBS and how it can affect your digestion, please visit https://www.yorktest.com/us/symptoms/ibs-digestive-problems/

Methodology

YorkTest took 50 common foods that their Premium Food Sensitivity test analyses and cross-referenced this with Reddit post data in the IBS sub to determine how many times each food had been posted about in the past year.

Data correct as of June 2022