Project Summary
During my internship I have worked on a clinical project in the division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. This research study focused on the role of diet in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Both healthy volunteers and volunteers with IBS participated. Participants were instructed to track their food over the course of four days through the use of a food diary. The food diaries that were returned by participants were analyzed and broken down into macronutrients (carbohydrates, calories, fats, proteins). The dietary data will be analyzed to determine how nutrient intake affects IBS symptoms and other factors that may impact IBS symptoms: colon transit (the time it takes for contents to move through the colon), stool metabolites, and the stool microbiome.
I have led the food data part of the project. I reviewed the available diet diaries, transferred data from paper forms to a secure web-based data management system (REDCap), calculated macronutrient intakes using the ASA24 website, and recorded macronutrient intake within REDCap for all volunteers for whom this data was available.
This study focuses on comparing the nutrient intake between a healthy person and a person with IBS. The amount of bile acid in the stool samples is compared between healthy and IBS volunteers to conclude if a different diet affects the nutrient intake in a person with IBS. Volunteers reported their stool according to the Bristol Stool Form Scale so there was a universal language being used.
