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The association between meal and snack frequency and irritable bowel syndrome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 September 2020

Mehrbod Vakhshoori
Affiliation:
Integrative Functional Gastroenterology Research Center, Students’ Research Committee, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
Parvane Saneei*
Affiliation:
Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutrition and Food Science, Food Security Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, PO Box 81745-151, Isfahan, Iran
Ahmad Esmaillzadeh
Affiliation:
Obesity and Eating Habits Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Molecular-Cellular Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinical Sciences Institute, Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Hamed Daghaghzadeh
Affiliation:
Integrative Functional Gastroenterology Research Center, Students’ Research Committee, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
Ammar Hassanzadeh Keshteli
Affiliation:
Integrative Functional Gastroenterology Research Center, Students’ Research Committee, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Peyman Adibi
Affiliation:
Integrative Functional Gastroenterology Research Center, Students’ Research Committee, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
*
*Corresponding author: Email saneeip@yahoo.com, saneei@nutr.mui.ac.ir
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Abstract

Objective:

The relationship between daily meal and snack frequency with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) was less investigated in the literature. We aimed to evaluate this association with IBS symptoms.

Design:

A cross-sectional study.

Setting:

This investigation was performed in Isfahan, a large province in the centre of Iran. Individuals were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire to quantify the numbers of daily main meals (one, two or three), snacks (never, 1–2, 3–5 or >5) and the total of them (<3, 3–5, 6–7 or ≥8). IBS and its subtypes were diagnosed according to Rome Ш criteria.

Participants:

General adults (n 4669, 2063 men and 2606 women).

Results:

The prevalence of IBS was 18·6 % in males and 24·1 % in females. Individuals consuming three main meals had 30 % decreased risk of IBS (OR 0·70, 95 % CI 0·52, 0·94) compared with those with one main meal in the crude model. After adjustments for all potential confounders this relation disappeared (OR 0·67, 95 % CI 0·43, 1·03). Gender-specified analysis revealed that women consuming three main meals per day had 32 % decreased likelihood of having IBS symptoms compared with one daily main meal takers (OR 0·68, 95 % CI 0·47, 0·99). This relation remained significant after adjustment for potential confounders (OR 0·56, 95 % CI 0·36, 0·89). A decreased likelihood of IBS in the highest category of main meal consumption compared with the lowest one was found in obese or overweight subjects (OR 0·54, 95 % CI 0·32, 0·91), after adjustment for all confounders.

Conclusions:

Our findings suggested that there was no significant relation between main meal or snack frequency and IBS in Iranian adults, but a small inverse association was found among females and overweight/obese individuals in subgroup analysis. Further prospective studies are needed confirming these associations.

Information

Type
Research paper
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Nutrition Society
Figure 0

Fig. 1 Flow diagram of study population

Figure 1

Table 1 General characteristics of study participants across categories of meal or snack frequency as well as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) status (n 4669)

Figure 2

Table 2 Distribution of participants in terms of diet-related behaviours across categories of meal or snack frequency as well as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) status (n 4669)

Figure 3

Fig. 2 Prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and its subtypes across categories of meal and snack frequency. (a) Main meal frequency (times/d); , 1; , 2; , 3. (b) Snack frequency (times/d); , 0; , 1–2; , 3–5; , >5. (c) Total meal and snacks (times/d) ; , <3; , 3–5; , 6–7; , ≥8. IBS-C, irritable bowel syndrome with constipation, IBS-D, irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhoea, IBS-M, mixed irritable bowel syndrome; IBS-U, un-subtyped irritable bowel syndrome(a) Main meal frequency (times/d); , 1; , 2; , 3. (b) Snack frequency (times/d); , 0; , 1–2; , 3–5; , >5. (c) Total meal and snacks (times/d) ; , <3; , 3–5; , 6–7; , ≥8. IBS-C, irritable bowel syndrome with constipation, IBS-D, irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhoea, IBS-M, mixed irritable bowel syndrome; IBS-U, un-subtyped irritable bowel syndrome

Figure 4

Table 3 Multivariable-adjusted OR for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and IBS subtypes across categories of meal or/and snack frequency* (n 4669)

Figure 5

Table 4 Multivariable-adjusted OR for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) across categories of meal f or/and snack frequency separated by gender* (n 4669)

Figure 6

Table 5 Multivariable-adjusted OR for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) across categories of meal or/and snack frequency separated by BMI status* (n 4669)

Supplementary material: File

Vakhshoori et al. supplementary material

Tables S1-S3

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