IBS

What to Drink and What to Avoid if You Have IBS

Figuring out what you can drink when you have IBS may feel like a losing battle, but you'll be surprised by how many beverages you can have that won't cause you GI distress.

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A bout of gas, bloating, cramps, and diarrhea or constipation may make you reevaluate your meals to find out where you went wrong. But if you have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), the culprit could be in your cup.

IBS occurs when the nerves and muscles in the intestine become oversensitive and don’t function properly, leading to diarrhea, constipation, or both.

While most people without IBS will use the bathroom 30 to 60 minutes after eating, some people with IBS will have to go sooner and will feel pain and may have diarrhea.

Research has found that choosing foods and beverages low in FODMAPs, or fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols, and avoiding foods high in FODMAPs helps relieve IBS symptoms.

A review published in January 2017 in the journal Gastroenterology & Hepatology, found that 50 to 86 percent of people with IBS show improvement in their symptoms on a low-FODMAP diet.

But, since the sugars in high FODMAP foods (inulin, fructose, sugar alcohols) are in so many drinks — and other drinks such as coffee and alcohol are also considered no-nos when you have IBS — it might leave you wondering what you can drink.

The good news? The choices are probably greater than you think. Here is a comprehensive list of beverages to avoid or enjoy. Bottoms up!

Drinks to Avoid

First consider the drinks that are likely to make your IBS symptoms worse. One big culprit is any beverages containing fructose or high-fructose corn syrup, says Rebecca Solomon, RD, a registered dietitian in New York City.

That’s because some people with IBS are intolerant to fructose. A literature review published in September 2015 in the journal Medical Hypotheses determined that poorly absorbed fructose can exacerbate IBS symptoms and restricting fructose in the diet can lead to symptom improvement.

It’s a good idea to avoid juices made from fruits with a high fructose content, including apples, mangos, pears, and watermelon, Solomon says. It also means you’ll have to be diligent about checking labels of other drinks, such as teas, juices, and sodas, for high fructose corn syrup. Odds are you’ll find it on product labels because it’s so widely used by manufacturers.

You also want to avoid sugar-free drinks made with artificial sweeteners containing polyols because they're also known to bring on IBS symptoms. Those include any sweeteners ending in “-ol,” such as sorbitol, mannitol, maltitol, and xylitol, as well as isomalt. You’re likely to find them in diet sodas, sugar-free juices, and sugar-free teas.

If you make your own vegetable juices, keep in mind that onions and garlic are considered major contributors to IBS, so they’re something to avoid, Solomon says. Also pass on juices made from other vegetables high in FODMAPs, such as:

  • Beets
  • Cabbage
  • Fennel
  • Legumes
  • Peas
  • Avocados
  • Cauliflower
  • Mushrooms
  • Snow peas

As for caffeine, it's known to move the bowel for most people, but the effect tends to be worse for those who have IBS. It’s a good idea to eliminate or limit the caffeine you drink in coffee, tea, and other drinks.

And for the most part, alcohol, especially heavy drinking, can cause IBS symptoms. In a study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, researchers compared the gastrointestinal symptoms of women who had IBS with those of women who didn’t have IBS after drinking alcohol. When the women who had IBS reported having more than four alcoholic drinks in a day, they were also more likely to experience diarrhea, nausea, stomach pain, and indigestion compared with women who didn’t have IBS.

6 Drinks That Won’t Irritate GI Symptoms

After eliminating the big offenders, it may seem like there’s nothing left to drink. Not so. Take a look at all of the beverages on the thumbs up list.

  1. Fruit Juices It’s perfectly appropriate to drink juices made from cranberries, bananas, grapefruits, lemons, grapes, and pineapples as long as they don’t contain corn syrup. It’s best when the juice is made fresh from organic fruits without added sugar, Solomon says. But if you do want to sweeten it up, choose a small amount of white sugar or the sweeteners Stevia or Splenda if you can tolerate them. (Those sweeteners bring on IBS symptoms for some people, but are safe for most, she said.)
  2. Vegetable Juices There are several vegetables that are low in FODMAPs that are perfect for juicing. Make a tasty juice using carrots, celery, chives, broccoli, cucumber, ginger, parsley, pumpkin, spinach, the green part of scallions, tomatoes, zucchini, yams, turnips, taro, squash, and eggplant. (Eggplant and squash cause problems for some people with IBS, so skip those if that’s the case for you.)
  3. Decaffeinated Coffee, Decaf Tea, or Weak Caffeinated Tea Choosing decaf coffee or tea shouldn’t be a problem, Solomon says. Or try caffeinated tea but make it weak.
  4. Herbal Tea Herbal tea doesn’t contain caffeine and is a great choice hot or iced.
  5. Ginger Drinks Ginger teas, punches, or beers are on the safe list as long as they don’t contain high fructose corn syrup, honey, or other sweeteners on the high FODMAP list.
  6. Dairy-Free Milk Rice milk, soy milk, oat milk, and lactose-free milk are all dairy-free milks and are low in FODMAPs.

Paying attention to how your body responds to different drinks is most important. If you know something bothers you, take it out of your diet. But if you can tolerate drinks that are on the restricted list, it’s okay to indulge.

“My philosophy is to enjoy as many foods and drinks as you can tolerate,” Solomon says.