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Even though irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) has been known for more than 150 years, it still remains one of the research challenges of the 21st century. According to the current diagnostic Rome IV criteria, IBS is characterized by abdominal pain associated with defecation and/or a change in bowel habit, in the absence of detectable organic causes. Symptoms interfere with the daily life of patients, reduce health-related quality of life and lower the work productivity. Despite the high prevalence of approximately 10%, its pathophysiology is only partly understood and seems multifactorial. However, many patients report symptoms to be meal-related and certain ingested foods may generate an exaggerated gastrointestinal response. Patients tend to avoid and even exclude certain food products to relieve their symptoms, which could affect nutritional quality. We performed a narrative paper review of the existing and emerging evidence regarding dietary management of IBS patients, with the aim to enhance our understanding of how to move towards an individualized dietary approach for IBS patients in the near future. ispartof: NUTRIENTS vol:11 issue:9 ispartof: location:Switzerland status: published

This review focuses on the acquired causes, diagnosis, and treatment of intestinal malabsorption. Intestinal absorption is a complex process that depends on many variables, including the digestion of nutrients within the intestinal lumen, the absorptive surface of the small intestine, the membrane transport systems, and the epithelial absorptive enzymes.Acquired causes of malabsorption are classified by focussing on the three phases of digestion and absorption: 1) luminal/digestive phase, 2) mucosal/absorptive phase, and 3) transport phase. Most acquired diseases affect the luminal/digestive phase. These include short bowel syndrome, extensive small bowel inflammation, motility disorders, and deficiencies of digestive enzymes or bile salts. Diagnosis depends on symptoms, physical examination, and blood and stool tests.There is no gold standard for the diagnosis of malabsorption. Further testing should be based on the specific clinical context and the suspected underlying disease. Therapy is directed at nutritional support by enteral or parenteral feeding and screening for and supplementation of deficiencies in vitamins and minerals. Early enteral feeding is important for intestinal adaptation in short bowel syndrome. Medicinal treatment options for diarrhoea in malabsorption include loperamide, codeine, cholestyramine, or antibiotics. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In order to reduce the need for invasive diagnostic tests in pediatrics, there has been a rapid development of tests based on the analysis of exhaled air for the investigation of a wide range of conditions. These tests are frequently extensions of procedures that have been developed and more intensively investigated for use in adults. Consequently, when these tests are used for children, the procedures are modified and diagnostic cut-off values are changed, and this results in lack of standardization and the possibility of differences of clinical interpretation.