Lenhart A, Dong T, Joshi S, et al. - This research sought to ascertain whether dietary patterns were correlated with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), symptoms, and fecal microbiota differences reported in IBS. Researchers enrolled 346 IBS individuals and 170 healthy controls (HCs), completed a Diet Checklist reflecting the diet(s) consumed most frequently. Within this group, they further define a gluten-free, dairy-free, or low fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols diet as restrictive as they are often implicated to reduce symptoms. They collected stool samples from 171 IBS patients and 98 HCs for 16S rRNA gene sequencing and microbial composition analysis. It was shown that restrictive diets are likely consumed more by IBS patients than HCs to reduce GI symptom severity. The findings suggested that dietary patterns influence the composition of fecal microbiota and may explain some of the differences between IBS and HCs.