Evidence for Dietary Fibre Modification in the Recovery and Prevention of Reoccurrence of Acute, Uncomplicated Diverticulitis: A Systematic Literature Review.

Plain Language Summary

Dietary recommendations for patients with acute, uncomplicated diverticulitis, in particular with regards to intake of dietary fibre, are inconsistent. The authors therefore conducted a systematic review of the relevant literature. They reviewed studies for the management of acute episodes of uncomplicated diverticulitis that compared “liberalised diets” (where patients had no restrictions to what they could eat) with “restricted diets”, which featured either bowel rest (nil by mouth), liquid diet or restricted fibre intake with or without antibiotics and/or probiotics. Based on the poor data they found in their search, there does not appear to be a clinical benefit of a “restricted diet”. Therefore, due to easier application and lower associated healthcare cost, they conclude that a “liberalised diet” should generally be recommended, whilst considering the risk profile of the individual patient. The authors also reviewed studies that looked into high or low fibre diets after an acute attack. Again, they found that the available data were poor, with no obvious advantage of one over the other being demonstrated, and therefore suggest that the generally recommended high fibre diet should be advocated, although they point out that some patients may have an intolerance to some forms of dietary fibre, and therefore individualised advice should be given. Overall, the authors included eight studies into their review and found the body of evidence for dietary management, both during and after, an acute episode of uncomplicated diverticulitis was “very poor”, and call for more research of better quality into this common condition.