The following is a summary of “Overweight and vitamin D deficiency are common in patients with irritable bowel syndrome – a cross-sectional study,” published in the September 2024 issue of Gastroenterology by Roth et al.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study comparing the weight and circulating levels of micronutrients in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) to HCs.

They recruited patients diagnosed with IBS and healthy volunteers. Participants completed a dietary diary book and questionnaires, including the Rome IV, IBS-severity scoring system (IBS-SSS), and visual analog scale for IBS (VAS-IBS). Weight and height were measured, and blood samples were drawn to analyze C-reactive protein (CRP), cobalamin, folate, iron, total iron-binding capacity (TIBC), and 25-hydroxy (25-OH) vitamin D. The differences between groups were adjusted for false discovery rate (FDR) using a generalized linear model for regressions.

The results showed patients with IBS (n = 260) were older than controls (n = 50) (44.00 (33.25-56.00) vs. 37.85 (30.18–45.48) years; P=0.012). After adjusting for age, weight (β: 5.880; 95% CI: 1.433–10.327; P=0.010, FDR = 0.020) and body mass index (BMI) (β: 2.02; 95% CI: 0.68–3.36; P=0.003, FDR = 0.012) were higher in patients. About 48.1% of patients with IBS were overweight/obese compared with 26.0% in controls (P=0.007). Diarrhea-predominant IBS had the highest weight (P<0.001) and BMI (P=0.077). The CRP and cobalamin were higher in patients than in controls (P=0.010 vs. P=0.007), whereas folate was highest in controls (P=0.001). Patients with IBS had a lower intake of vegetables (P=0.026), dairy products (P=0.004), and cereals (P=0.010) compared with controls. Despite 21.5% of patients with IBS taking vitamin D supplements, 23.65% had vitamin D levels below 50 nmol/L, compared with 26.0% observed in the control group (P=0.720). Vitamin D levels were lower in overweight patients than in average-weight patients with IBS (60 (48–73) nmol/L vs. 65 (53–78) nmol/L, P=0.022). Vitamin D correlated with cobalamin and folate but correlated inversely with TIBC and BMI. Patients with IBS had a high degree of gastrointestinal and extraintestinal symptoms, which were inversely associated with iron levels. Extraintestinal symptoms were associated with increased BMI.

They concluded that patients with IBS were often overweight or obese, with low vitamin D levels and a high burden of extraintestinal symptoms associated with overweight and lower iron levels.

Source: bmcgastroenterol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12876-024-03373-x