"Would a life without onions garlic apples and most bread be worth living For growing numbers of people suffering from digestive ills the answer is yes at least for a while. They are trying something called the lowFODMAP diet http an experimental eating plan developed in Australia and now getting some scientific backing and commercial buzz in the United States. The diet is aimed primarily at people with irritable bowel syndrome http a common condition in which abdominal pain and irregular bowel habits  with diarrhea constipation or both  can wax and wane for years. Followers are asked to eliminate and then try to reintroduce a long list of foods containing certain carbohydrates that might trigger gas bloating pain and diarrhea. FODMAP is an acronym for those carbohydrates fermentable oligosaccharides disaccharides monosaccharides and polyols. The theory is that FODMAPs found in many fruits vegetables grains dairy foods and sweeteners are poorly digested by susceptible people. The undigested carbohydrates can draw extra fluid into the digestive tract and end up in the colon where they are feasted upon and fermented by gut microbes leading to all sorts of misery says Lauren Van Dam a registered dietitian at the University of Michigan. If giving up some foods might lessen that misery many people are game she says. We have some patients that are literally housebound because they are worried they are going to have an accident or because they have terrible pain Van Dam says. Barbara DeLancey a yearold registered nurse from Ann Arbor says she was crippled by timesaday diarrhea when she agreed to try the diet a year ago. I was resistant at first because it seemed so restrictive she says.  She got tearyeyed at the grocery store seeing all the food she could not have. But eventually she learned she could tolerate and add back some favorites including garlic and apples. She credits the diet along with medication with a big reduction in her symptoms but says it has not been a miracle cure. The diet has generated enough interest to prompt some food companies to introduce lowFODMAP products  hoping for a market surpassing that for glutenfree foods according to some industry reports. http In  IBS treatment guidelines http from the  American College of Gastroenterology said the diet showed promise but that the quality of evidence was very low. Since then several studies have strengthened the case for the diet says guideline coauthor Brian Lacy a professor of medicine and chief of gastroenterology at DartmouthHitchcock Medical Center Lebanon N.H.  Still one study https from Sweden showed no advantage over a lessrestrictive dietary approach https that eliminates fewer foods and stresses changes such as smaller more frequent meals. The data are not overwhelming Lacy says. But I think its a reasonable thing to try. The largest study httpsexperts.umich.eduenpublicationsarandomizedcontrolledtrialcomparingthelowfodmapdietvsmo so far with  patients was conducted at University of Michigan. It found that  of lowFODMAP patients and  of patients on a lessrestrictive diet reported adequate relief. The difference was not statistically significant says study coauthor William Chey a professor of gastroenterology. But lowFODMAP patients did get significantly better relief from pain and bloating and greater gains in mood body image and overall quality of life he says. Medications probiotics fiber supplements and other approaches still have roles in treating IBS and no one approach works for all patients Chey and Lacy say. Its not known if the diet leads to any nutritional deficiencies or keeps working in the long run  especially for patients who get little support from doctors or dietitians. Physicians are largely administering the diet by giving patients sheets of paper with foods to exclude Chey says. Ideally all would be referred to dietitians Chey and Lacy agree. But few dietitians are trained in the diet and insurers typically do not cover the visits Lacy notes. When patients do make their way to Kate Scarlata a Boston area registered dietitian who specializes in the diet the first thing she tells them is that it is a dietary experiment. Its a shortterm learning diet. Van Dam does the same  explaining that after a few weeks she will help clients reintroduce foods one carbohydrate category at a time. Most are able to identify some highFODMAP foods they can tolerate very well and some they can tolerate a little but not in high portions every day she says.  Our goal is for them to be on the most varied nutritious diet possible. The trickiest part is avoiding onions and garlic the dietitians say. They teach clients strategies such as using safe garlicinfused oils avoiding restaurant sauces and soups and topping salads with oil and vinegar. Mapping FODMAP High and lowFODMAP food lists are updated frequently at websites and apps run by the University of Michigan http and Monash University http in Australia. Here is a sampling from the Michigan site. Note the site receives funding from Nestle Health Science which is marketing lowFODMAP products. Foods to avoid Dairy Milk ice cream yogurt cottage and ricotta cheeses except for lactosefree versions Fruits Apples peaches pears watermelon cherries figs Vegetables Garlic onions leeks asparagus cauliflower or large servings more than  cup of broccoli and Brussels sprouts Grains Wheat except in sourdough bread rye barley Legumes and nuts Cashews kidney beans soy beans and soy milk Sweeteners Honey fructose xylitol agave syrup Foods to include  Dairy and dairy substitutes Kefir almond milk coconut milk Fruits Bananas blueberries grapes oranges strawberries Vegetables Carrots green beans bell peppers potatoes tomatoes Grains Rice oats glutenfree bread but check labels for highFODMAP ingredients Legumes and nuts Peanuts pecans walnuts Sweeteners Cane sugar aspartame stevia"