Digitally Delivered Dietary Treament for Adult Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Pilot Study

May 25, 2026 updated by: Magnus Simrén, Sahlgrenska University Hospital

Digitally Delivered Dietary Treament for Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Two carbohydrate reduced diets, the low FODMAP diet (LFD) and low-carbohydrate diet (LCD), have in randomized controlled studies shown efficacy in relieving symptoms in patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), but access to trained dieticians is limited. Digital delivery may offer a convenient, cost-effective and scalable solution. This pilot study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of digitally delivered evidence-based dietary treatments in relieving gastrointestinal, psychological and somatic symptoms and improving quality of life in patients with IBS.

Adults with IBS will be recruited via social media and clinical referrals and will receive their choice of the two dietary treatments: LFD with traditional IBS dietary advice or LCD. Participants will get access to the digital platform which contains information about the study, IBS pathophysiology, the treatment diet along with recipes and a mobile application for food scanning. Participants will complete digital questionnaires at baseline and week four to evaluate changes in gastrointestinal symptoms (IBS-SSS), somatic and psychological symptoms (PHQ-15, HADS, VSI) and quality of life (IBS-QoL). Feasibility and adherence is assessed with an evaluation questionnaire.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

32

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Sweden
      • Gothenburg, Sweden, 41345
        • Dept of Internal Medicine, Sahlgrenska University Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Diagnosed with IBS (Rome IV) by physician
  • Age 18-64
  • Ability to read and understand Swedish
  • Signed informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Received dietary treatmen for IBS previously
  • Manifestations of other conditions that may explain gastrointestinal symptoms
  • Manifestation of other serious medical conditions
  • Patients with ongoing eating disorders
  • Pregnant/lactating women

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: Digital delivery of low FODMAP diet or low-carbohydrate diet
Other: Digital dietary platform
a digital platform with information about the study, IBS, the treatment diet along with recipes and a mobile application for food scanning.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Proportion of patients with significant gastrointestinal symtom reduction
Time Frame: From baseline vs 4 weeks after starting digital dietary treatment.
A responder to treatment is defined as having a symptom reduction > 50 measured by IBS-SSS
From baseline vs 4 weeks after starting digital dietary treatment.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sahlgrenska University Hospital

Collaborators

Funding: Kostfonden

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

May 2, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 19, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 19, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

May 26, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 28, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 25, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2024-01068-01

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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