I'm in the same boat as you. After some clueless doctors, I'm in the 'try low FODMAP' phase currently, and for the first time I'm improving.

I mean, we know there isn't a cure for now but it's good to have something similar to a 'normal life' again.

I also have my fingers crossed waiting for science to do its job.

I share your suspicion about current Western diets.

I'm wondering if someone can help, re low FODMAP diet, as I'm finding some contradictory information about which foods are low FODMAP.

For example, at [1], Chickpeas are listed as low FODMAP, but at [2] they're listed as "high". Similarly for Green bell peppers.

Thanks for any help.

[1] https://www.ibsdiets.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/IBSDiets... [2] https://med.virginia.edu/ginutrition/wp-content/uploads/site...

I recommend you check out the app from Monash [1]. It’s a paid app but really worth it and its been incredibly helpful for me (I say this as a user, not affiliated with them). AFAIK it contains the largest number of tested foods and they keep adding new foods and retesting and updating older food quantities and list out the specific fodmap associated with each food. From what I have found online, every other source is either outdated or mostly copies the data from here.

ICYDK (From the studies I have read online) Researchers from Monash were the first ones to identify low fodmaps and they continually release research studies in this area.

To answer your question about chickpeas - right now I see 2 different tested versions in the app - one is Canned chickpeas - this says quarter cup (42g) should mostly be fine but half cup (84g) contains moderate amounts of Oligos-GOS (one of the fodmpas).

Green bell peppers - 52g should be ok but 75 to 80g contains high amount of sorbitol.

The app uses a traffic system (red, blue, green lights) to indicate the quantities

[1] https://www.monashfodmap.com/ibs-central/i-have-ibs/get-the-...

Another vote for the app. We've recommended it to others as well. (Only one of my doctors, the last, recommended it to me. I assume the others didn't know about it. All have been family medicine/general practitioners.)

What eventually got me is that certain foods which were listed as low FODMAP were also trigger foods for my symptoms.

So if it doesn't seem to be working, there may have a similar issue.

Thank you.

> Very much a 'seems like IBS, try low FODMAP, see what works and doesn't via experience,' which was pretty amazing/alarming how little is understood about our guts.

Yes exactly this.

> Especially since I think it'll be interesting to find out if something has been added to our diets that's causing an increase in intolerance over the last decade+.

One thing I read is that western diets severely lack in fiber which usually leads to loss of microbiome diversity [1]. But studies like this are still early stages, we need targeted results based on all this to really have any effect.

[1] https://nautil.us/how-the-western-diet-has-derailed-our-evol...