Watani International
8 August 2010
Irritable bowel syndrome has been a tough disorder to understand. Studies have failed to
show any structural problems in the gut that would account for the symptoms of
pain, bloating, diarrhea and constipation. However, the disorder is real,
affecting as many as 15% of Americans.
A new study has found a possible connection between IBS and the brain.
Researchers at McGill University and UCLA used MRI scans to reveal changes in
the brains of women with the disorder. The researchers took MRI scans of 55 IBS
patients and 48 healthy women for comparison. The women with IBS tended to have
different amounts of brain gray matter in certain areas; for example, decreases
in gray matter in parts of the brain that govern attention and areas that
suppress pain.
A link between the brain and chronic pain has been identified in other
disorders, such as lower back pain, migraines, fibromyalgia and hip pain. The
study on IBS suggests that, like these other conditions, the problem may be due
to the brain’s inability to inhibit the pain response.
“Discovering structural changes in the brain, whether they are primary
or secondary to the gastrointestinal symptoms, demonstrates an ‘organic’
component to IBS and supports the concept of a brain-gut disorder,” Emeran
Mayer, a co-author of the study at UCLA, said in a news release. “Also,
the findings remove the idea once and for all that IBS symptoms are not real
and are only psychological. The findings will give us more insight into
better understanding IBS.”