Drinks That Might Help or Hinder

(Information reproduced from "The Sufferers' Guide to Coping with IBS" published by the IBS Research Appeal (Out of Print))

Note: The following are valuable since they are sufferers' perceptions and not part of a clinically controlled test

Top Twenty Helpful Drinks

1. Water 11. Decaffeinated coffee/tea
2. Weak Tea 12. Drinks containing ginger
3. Herbal Tea 13. Slippery elm
4. Fruit juice 14. Semi-skimmed milk
5. Alcohol (general) 15. Ribena
6. Milk 16. Soya milk
7. Chocolate, cocoa, malted milk drinks 17. Carbonated drinks (general)
8. Tonic and soda water 18. Aqua Libra
9. Wine 19. Vegetable juice
10. Peppermint Tea 20. Lemonade

Note: By far the greatest number of respondents listed water as the most helpful drink, usually drunk in large quantities. They usually specified still bottled water as the most helpful. Other high scorers were aloe vera and cranberry juice.

Top Twenty Most Avoided Drinks

1. Coffee 11. Spirits
2. Alcohol 12. Soft drinks (sugary)
3. Fruit juice 13. Milky drinks in general
4. Milk 14. Horlicks
5. None 15. Drinks containing Sorbitol
6. Tea 16. Cocoa
7. Fizzy drinks (general) 17. Very cold drinks
8. Red wine 18. Ovaltine
9. Beer 19. Anything
10. White wine 20. Tomato juice


Note: Coffee was way out in front. It did not feature at all in the list of helpful drinks although several other drinks gave the familiar contradictory message...alcohol and milk for example figure prominently in both lists.

     


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