Low FODMAP for IBS
Which FODMAP each Indian food carries, what to cook instead, and the four phases — including the one that ends the diet.
This is not the Monash database. It names which FODMAP subgroup a food carries and what to cook instead; it does not carry Monash's laboratory-tested serve sizes, which are their licensed data. Where a food depends on the helping, check the tested serve in the Monash FODMAP app before advising a specific amount.
Low FODMAP is a matter of dose, not of banned foods. Almost anything is low FODMAP in a small enough helping, FODMAPs add up across a meal, and a suitable food eaten three times in one sitting may not behave like a suitable food.
Not IBS until somebody has ruled these out
Starting a restrictive diet on any of these treats a symptom that may be something else.
- • Blood in the stool, or bleeding from the rectum
- • Unintentional weight loss
- • New onset of symptoms over the age of 50
- • Anaemia, or a low ferritin with no explanation
- • A family history of bowel cancer, coeliac disease or inflammatory bowel disease
- • Symptoms that wake the client at night
- • A palpable mass, or fever with the bowel symptoms
True before day one
Coeliac disease excluded first, while the client is still eating gluten
Coeliac serology and biopsy are only valid on a gluten-containing diet. Low FODMAP removes wheat on day one, and once it is out the test cannot be interpreted for months. Starting here can cost a client their diagnosis.
Standard IBS dietary advice tried first
NICE and the BDA put low FODMAP second-line. Regular meals, and moderating caffeine, alcohol, fizzy drinks, fat and spice, resolve a good share of cases at a fraction of the burden.
A diagnosis of IBS, not an assumption of one
The evidence is in IBS. This is not a treatment for undiagnosed abdominal pain, for active inflammatory bowel disease, or for bloating alone.
The client can be seen again for reintroduction
Elimination without a planned reintroduction is where the harm is. If there is no realistic follow-up, do the standard advice properly instead and do not start this.
Do not start this diet with
- • A current or past eating disorder, or marked food-related anxiety — the restriction and the food rules are a known risk
- • Pregnancy or breastfeeding, other than under specialist care
- • Children and adolescents, other than under a paediatric dietitian
- • A client already eating very little, or losing weight
- • Active inflammatory bowel disease — a different problem with a different treatment
Nothing on this page is saved. It is a consultation aid, not a record of an assessment.