Abdominal distension after eating lettuce: The role of intestinal gas evaluated in vitro and by abdominal CT imaging.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Some patients complain that eating lettuce, gives them gas and abdominal distention. Our aim was to determine to what extent the patients' assertion is sustained by evidence.

Methods

An in vitro study measured the amount of gas produced during the process of fermentation by a preparation of human colonic microbiota (n = 3) of predigested lettuce, as compared to beans, a high gas-releasing substrate, to meat, a low gas-releasing substrate, and to a nutrient-free negative control. A clinical study in patients complaining of abdominal distention after eating lettuce (n = 12) measured the amount of intestinal gas and the morphometric configuration of the abdominal cavity in abdominal CT scans during an episode of lettuce-induced distension as compared to basal conditi

SUBMITTER: Barba E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6899808 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature