• A study led by the Digestive Diseases and Microbiota group at the Dr. Josep Trueta Biomedical Research Institute of Girona (IDIBGI) show a potential positive impact of traditional bread on patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) in remission and symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
• The research, which is part of a project within the framework of the RETOS collaboration programme of the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (RTC-2017-6467-2), has recently been published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.

The Digestive Diseases and Microbiota group of the Girona Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBGI), linked to the Digestology Service of the Hospital Trueta, has observed a prebiotic effect of bread made following traditional processes in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) in remission and symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

There is now no doubt about the impact of the gut microbiota on digestive diseases such as UC and IBS. In recent years, much effort has been devoted to finding treatments based on modulating the microbiota to help improve digestive symptoms. In this sense, prebiotics are foods that selectively stimulate the growth of microorganisms present in the host (i.e. us), which have a health benefit.

The study, published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, included 31 UC patients in remission who were experiencing IBS-like symptoms. These patients were randomly assigned to a dietary intervention with 200 grams of traditional or control bread per day for a period of 8 weeks. The results indicate a reduction in IBS-associated symptomatology (i.e. abdominal pain) and a potential alteration of the gut microbiota by reducing the ratio of Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes bacteria, a parameter indicative of microbial disturbance. These results have opened up new perspectives on the use of bread as a potential prebiotic agent.

This work comes from a collaboration within the RETOS-Colaboración programme of the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (RTC-2017-6467-2), of which the Institute of Biomedical Research of Girona (IDIBGI), the Hospital del Mar Institute of Medical Research (IMIM), and the bakery company Elias Boulanger S.L. are part of.

Reference article: Lluansí A, Llirós M, Carreras-Torres R, Bahí A, Capdevila M, Feliu A, Vilà-Quintana L, Elias-Masiques N, Cueva E, Peries L, Torrealba L, Miquel-Cusachs JO, Sàbat M, Busquets D, López C, Delgado-Aros S, Garcia-Gil LJ, Elias I, Aldeguer X. Impact of bread diet on intestinal dysbiosis and irritable bowel syndrome symptoms in quiescent ulcerative colitis: A pilot study. PLoS One. 2024 Feb 16;19(2):e0297836. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0297836. PMID: 38363772; PMCID: PMC10871487.