What’s to Blame for Your Stomach Bug?

From dietary choices to bacteria and foodborne illnesses, there can be a myriad of reasons why you experience cramps, vomiting, and diarrhea after certain meals.

These ‘actute gastrointestinal events’ can be the result of the meal you just ate (or more accurately, the meal you ate prior to the meal you just ate), food-borne bacteria like norovirus or salmonella, or germs from external sources like unclean hands involved in food prep.

And sometimes your gut distress isn’t for any of those reasons. It could be the overconsumption of fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols, known in public health circles as FODMAPs.

So just what are FODMAPs, and how do they affect our digestive tracts? Dr. Scott Gabbard, a gastroenterologist at the Cleveland Clinic, details how a low FODMAP diet works in this New York Times article.