The study highlights fructose as a possible cause of unexplained abdominal pain. There is no harm in trying it once than to wander for guess work treatment for abdominal pain.
ACG: Abdominal Pain May Be Traced to Fructose
Fructose intolerance in children may be more common than previously thought, and recurrent, unexplained abdominal pain may resolve with a low-fructose diet, according to a study reported here.
Breath hydrogen tests after fructose dosing revealed that 132 of 245 patients were intolerant to the sugar, but adherence to a low-fructose diet helped to clear up abdominal pain in 88 of the 132 (67.7%) patients, investigators told the American College of Gastroenterology meeting.
An association between fructose intolerance or malabsorption and gastrointestinal symptoms goes back more than two decades in studies of adults with irritable bowel syndrome (Gastroenterology 1990; 1016-1020). Unexplained recurrent abdominal pain is a common complaint among children, added Abdullah.
Whether fructose intolerance or malabsorption plays a role had not been carefully studied, he continued. To examine the issue, investigators studied 245 children with unexplained abdominal pain, gas, bloating, constipation, or diarrhea. The children ranged in age from 2 to 18 years (median age 11); more than 60% were girls.
The patients consumed a 1 g/kg dose of fructose up to a maximum of 25 g, followed by a breath hydrogen test for fructose. Results showed that 53.9% of the children tested positive (≥20 ppm) for fructose intolerance/malabsorption.