OBJECTIVES:

Does artichoke leaf extract (ALE) ameliorate symptoms of Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in otherwise healthy volunteers suffering concomitant dyspepsia?

METHODS:

A subset analysis of a previous dose-ranging, open, postal study, in adults suffering dyspepsia. Two hundred and eight (208) adults were identified post hoc as suffering with IBS. IBS incidence, self-reported usual bowel pattern, and the Nepean Dyspepsia Index (NDI) were compared before and after a 2-month intervention period.

RESULTS:

There was a significant fall in IBS incidence of 26.4% (p < 0.001) after treatment. A significant shift in self-reported usual bowel pattern away from "alternating constipation/diarrhea" toward "normal" (p < 0.001) was observed. NDI total symptom score significantly decreased by 41% (p < 0.001) after treatment. Similarly, there was a significant 20% improvement in the NDI total quality-of-life (QOL) score in the subset after treatment.

CONCLUSION:

This report supports previous findings that ALE ameliorates symptoms of IBS, plus improves health-related QOL.