Forskning

January 20, 2012

Diet and its role in interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) and comorbid conditions

J I Friedlander et al, Diet and its role in interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) and comorbid conditions, BJU International, 2012

Nearly 90% of patients with interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) report sensitivities to a wide variety of dietary comestible. Current questionnaire based literature suggests that citrus fruits, tomatoes, vitamin C, artificial sweeteners, coffee, tea, carbonated and alcoholic beverages, and spicy foods tend to exacerbate symptoms, while calcium glycerophosphate and sodium bicarbonate tend to improve symptoms. This paper reviews current literature with regard to diet’s effect upon IC/BPS and common comorbidities with a focus upon questionnaire based investigations. The pathologic mechanisms that may link diet and IC/BPS related-pain, concentrating upon specific comestibles such as acidic foods, foods high in potassium, caffeine, and alcohol are discussed.

The paper contains a section on caffeine;  ‘Surveys on food sensitivities show that when patients report they are food sensitive, some of the most problematic comestibles are chocolate, coffee, and tea. Although the ingredient (s) responsible for triggering flares has not been established, the common denominator for these products is caffeine. A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial of caffeine ingestion in healthy volunteers without urinary tract disease showed that caffeine initially caused an increase in voiding frequency. Ultimately, the volunteers appeared to develop tolerance to the caffeine, resulting in no overall difference in voiding frequency over the 4-day course of the study. A more recent prospective cohort study by the Nurses’ Health Study and the Nurses’ Health Study II report that high caffeine intake was associated with a modest increase in the incidence of frequent urinary incontinence, frequent being defines as at least once a week. The attributable risk of urgency incontinence associated with high caffeine intake was 25%; however these authors cautioned on generating recommendations from this data until further studies could confirm these findings.’