Welcome to WDHD 2016: Your Diet and Gut Health - Govind K. Makharia, MD, DM, DNB, MNAMS - David Sanders, MRCP(UK), MD, FACG, FRCP

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WORLD GASTROENTEROLOGY NEWS Official e-newsletter of the World Gastroenterology Organisation VOL. 21, ISSUE 1 MAY 2016 In this issue www.worldgastroenterology.org Bariatric Surgery and the Gastroenterologist Srikantaiah Manjunatha, MBBS, MD, MRCP(UK) Michael Schultz, MD, PhD Welcome to WDHD 2016: Your Diet and Gut Health Govind K. Makharia, MD, DM, DNB, MNAMS Professor Department of Gastroenterology and Human Nutrition All India Institute of Medical Sciences New Delhi, India David Sanders, MRCP(UK), MD, FACG, FRCP Professor Royal Hallamshire Hospital; University of Sheffield NHS Foundation Trust Sheffield, UK Neuroendocrine Neoplasm in China​— Present and Future Min-Hu Chen, MD, PhD Jie Chen, MD, PhD Dear Colleagues For some time the public have been asking us about the relationship between what we eat and the subsequent develop-ment of gastrointestinal symptoms. One good example of this is coeliac disease, which affects 1% of the population with the damage occurring in the gut as a result of eating gluten, a protein present in the wheat. More recently a new entity is emerging termed non-coeliac gluten sensitivity which may affect more than 10% of the population. Food intolerances are reported to be very common affecting up to 40% of individuals who have Irritable Bowel Syn-drome (IBS) type symptoms. A further exciting development is the dietary inter-ventions studies showing benefit to pa-tients with IBS when trying a FODMAP (fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccha-rides, monosaccharides and polyols) diet, gluten free diet or probiotics. However one area of confusion for both clinicians and the public alike are the entities of Food Allergy and Food Intolerance. Food allergy is predominantly a childhood diagnosis and is reported to affect 4-7% of children. Making the diagnosis is based on the presence of either an IgE immuno-globulin blood or skin prick test, however crucially patients must also report allergic symptoms. It is possible to have a posi-tive IgE test as a marker of having been sensitised to the allergen but not actually develop an allergic response. Nevertheless we now consider that 1-2% of adults may also have food allergy. There are at present no tests for food intolerances so distin-guishing between food allergy and food intolerance is vital. The World Gastroenterology Organisa-tion (WGO) wishes to raise awareness of the relationship between what we eat and gastrointestinal symptoms. WGO want to provide a broad overview on this com-mon association by providing gastroenter-ologists and, hence their patients and the lay public, with an understanding of the Continued on page 4


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