Old Treatments Best for IBS

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

There have been several new drugs that were trumpeted as great treatments for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in recent years. Unfortunately they have not demonstrated the results that were anticipated. But as it turns out, there are older treatments that apparently work the best for IBS.

Some of those newer drugs have actually been pulled from the market.

- Alosetron, marketed under the name Lotronex, was the first drug in the U.S. to be approved for treatment of IBS. That was in February 2000. However, it was pulled later the same year because of potentially life-threatening side effects. Since then it has been reintroduced but is only available to women with severe diarrhea-predominant IBS (IBS-D) that have not had success with other treatments.

- Tegaserod, marketed under the name Zelnorm, was also approved for treatment of IBS but was withdrawn in March, 2007 at the request of the FDA. Zelnorm’s side effects included increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

- Renzapride was in Phase III trials for treatment of constipation-predominant IBS (IBS-C) but all development was stopped in April, 2008 because it did not show enough efficacy to justify further development.

It turns out, though, that older methods appear to be relatively safe, cheap, and effective and are readily available over the counter.

A new study, published November 14th in the online edition of the British Medical Journal, reports that peppermint oil, fiber and antispasmodics were effective treatments for irritable bowel syndrome.

Study lead Dr. Alexander C. Ford from McMaster University, Health Sciences Centre in Ontario, Canada, and his team analyzed the results from 38 previous trials conducted over 25 years that included 2,500 adult patients with IBS. There were 22 studies comparing different antispasmodics to placebos, 12 that compared fiber with placebo or nothing, and 4 studies of peppermint oil.

The results of the analysis include:

One out of 2½ people would experience significant relief from treatment with peppermint oil. In comparison, one in five treated with antispasmodics and one in 11 taking fiber would see benefits. Participants in the peppermint trials took an average dose of 200 mg per day in capsule form.
Insoluble fibers, such as bran-based fibers were not very beneficial. Effective fibers were psyllium based. In trials utilizing psyllium, one in six patients had significant improvements in their symptoms
In tests on antispasmodics, scopolamine was determined to be the most effective.

Dr. Ford’s team concluded that peppermint oil and scopolamine were good treatments for diarrhea-predominant IBS (IBS-D) and that psyllium-fiber therapy was a good treatment for constipation-dominant IBS (IBS-C).

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)