SIBO Summit 2016 Review - Part 2
This is the second instalment of the review of Dr. Allison Siebecker's presentation at the SIBO Summit 2016. If you would like to read part 1, click here.
Australia’s first SIBO conference, the SIBO Summit, kicked off in Melbourne on Saturday 8 October 2016, followed by Sydney on 10 October 2016.
The full video of Dr. Allison Siebecker presenting at the SIBO Summit along with her slides and notes are available to purchase. This article is a summary of the key highlights from her presentation but we highly recommend watching the full video for the complete learnings and more detail. You can order the presentation here.
In this article, you will learn:
- Why diet alone cannot cure SIBO
- Why SIBO can be so hard to treat (and beat!)
- Dr. Siebecker's top tips for treating SIBO
Dr. Allison Siebecker presents at the SIBO Summit 2016
The role diet plays in SIBO treatment
According to Dr. Siebecker, diet alone is not enough to eradicate SIBO. However, it can be used to:
- Manage and reduce symptoms
- Help prevent SIBO
- Improve overall health
There are several diets that can be used to support SIBO treatment. They all target and reduce carbohydrates, and include:
| Diet | What it is best for |
| Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) | Moderate SIBO, IBD, coeliac or diarrhoeal disease |
| Gut and Psychology Syndrome Diet (GAPS) | GI conditions that coexist with mood/brain disorders (eg. autism, depression, anxiety, ADD, etc) |
| Low FODMAP Diet | Prevention once tolerances have expanded, underweight patients, mild SIBO, vegetarians, vegans |
| Cedars-Sinai Low Fermentation Diet | Prevention once tolerances have expanded, underweight patients, mild SIBO, vegetarians, vegans (easiest to follow) |
| SIBO Specific Food Guide | Extreme cases of SIBO, less foods tolerated |
| SIBO Bi-Phasic Diet | Extreme cases of SIBO, less foods tolerated |
| Fast Tract Digestion | (Nothing was listed for this diet) |
Diet tips
Dr. Siebecker recommended the following tips when managing your nutrition for SIBO:
- Avoid raw food and salad
- Choose low FODMAP fruits and vegetables
- Avoid whole grains and beans
- Be careful with nuts and seeds
- Some starches may be tolerated (eg. white rice, white potato, white wheat). Often one is tolerated but not all
- Lactose free dairy may be tolerated
- Sugar and clover honey may be tolerated
- Size matters - small amounts may be tolerated but larger amounts may be problematic
Prokinetics
Prokinetics are used to support the MMC to help prevent relapse of SIBO. Interestingly, prokinetics only work in the small intestine, not the large intestine, so they can be used by patients with diarrhoea. Dr. Siebecker highlighted the importance of the use of prokinetics, especially in the chronic cases.
- Start using prokinetics straight after finishing treatment
- It's ok to re-test while using prokinetics
- It is important to use prokinetics between rounds of treatment
- There are natural and pharmaceutical prokinetics available
- Not all prokinetics are strong enough to be beneficial
- Some patients need to remain on prokinetics, especially when SIBO has been present for longer than five years
- Slowly reduce them out of your protocol to test if still effective. The only risk is relapse.
SIBO treatment tips for success
Dr. Siebecker ended her presentation with the following 7 tips on how to successfully treat SIBO.
- Testing. Correctly diagnose SIBO as the first step.
- Treatment. Rotate rounds of treatment for the best results.
- Methane. Methane and constipation dominant SIBO is harder to treat. Different treatment options are required.
- Re-Test. Re-test to assess progress and effectiveness of treatment.
- Prevention. Use both prokinetics and diet for prevention.
- Diet. Customise the diet to the individual and find the one that works for you.
- Causes. Explore the underlying cause of SIBO to support the treatment and ongoing prevention of relapse.
The full video of Dr. Allison Siebecker presenting at the SIBO Summit along with her slides and notes are available to purchase. This article is a summary of the key highlights from her presentation but we highly recommend watching the full video for the complete learnings and to delve into more detail. You can order the presentation here.
This is the second part of a 2 part article on Dr. Siebecker's presentation. Click here to see Part 1.
Dr. Siebecker's website is full of informative and useful information relating to SIBO. To read more about her work, head to www.siboinfo.com.
Thank you so much for this post. Great!
hello! thank tou for tyhese posts!! Was there mention of the best prokinetic to use? thank you!
Hi Sonya, Dr. Siebecker did talk about prokinetics but I didn’t make detailed notes about it. You may like to purchase her video presentation to get that information. I believe it is now available to buy. https://blog.sibotest.com/sibo-summit-2016/
~ Rebecca