Reintroducing FODMAPs in Step 2 of the FODMAP diet enables you to better understand your tolerances and sensitivities to the different FODMAP sugars, and in Step 3, to expand your diet based on your personal FODMAP sensitivities, so it is less restrictive for the long-term.
The Monash FODMAP App includes a handy Reintroduction feature to assist with Step 2 of the FODMAP diet. This Reintroduction feature provides food suggestions for each of the FODMAPs, as well as the quantities to challenge over the 3 days of reintroduction. The foods initially chosen for this function were tested in the early days of FODMAP diet research and were the most suitable foods based on the data produced at the time.
Through a process of retesting previously tested foods by our laboratory research team, we have discovered that for a wide range of reasons, the FODMAP content of some foods differs from prior lab tests. Because of this new information, we have re-looked at the reintroduction food suggestions to ensure they are suitable based on the latest information regarding their FODMAP content.
Our retesting revealed that the FODMAP content of some foods was the same, whereas there were significant differences in the FODMAP content of other foods. One interesting finding was that some foods were found to have lower FODMAP contents than previous test results, making them unsuitable as reintroduction foods. Agricultural products are expected to vary in FODMAP content. Seeing lower or higher FODMAP content in subsequent tests is not a surprise, and does not mean prior tests were “wrong”. All the tests are simply reflective of the batches of food tested at that time. As the app can only represent one data set at a time, our current recommendations for Reintroduction are based on our most recent tests and align with our updates in the Food Guide.
In Table 1, you can see all the foods that were found in the Reintroduction diary that we tested in the centre column. The right column reflects the findings of our most recent tests and aligns with the current information in the Food Guide.
To ensure we had enough foods to include in some of the Reintroduction categories, we included the foods shown in Table 2 in our testing.
Brussels Sprouts, Savoy Cabbage and White Cauliflower may have some non-FODMAP-related food components that could still cause some gastrointestinal symptoms (e.g. excess gas production).1 Whilst these foods may no longer be part of FODMAP reintroduction, they are something that you may still like to complete food challenges with, particularly if you suspect they trigger your IBS symptoms.
From this testing, we have reevaluated the foods and serve sizes within the app and the function will now feature the foods found in the table below:
It is important to note that these changes do not mean previous reintroduction trials were a waste of time. It was still important that this was undertaken as this helped you understand your tolerance to the foods available to you.
These changes also reiterate the importance of continuing to re-test your tolerance to foods! Not only can your tolerance change but so can the food supply.
Moving forward, some individuals who have previously completed reintroduction may not feel the need to repeat the reintroduction challenges. If you have spent time in step 3 (long term) of the diet, then you may be very well aware of what foods and at what quantities you can tolerate.
Others may like to go back and test their tolerance to newly retested foods to understand if these changes have any effect on their understanding of which FODMAPs they tolerate.
