ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT02614313Updated Dec 17, 2018

Fructose Breath-testing in Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

An interventional study of Open breath test with fructose and Breath test with sweet placebo (Assugrin) in Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders and Irritable Bowel Syndrome, sponsored by Brain-Gut Research Group. Completed at 1 site in Switzerland. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 60 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2018-12-17.

Primary conditionIrritable Bowel SyndromeRegistry: Gastrointestinal DiseasesReclassifiedWhy we changed it
Registry
Gastrointestinal Diseases — the first condition term the registry derived for this study.
ClinicalTrials.gg
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Why
  1. The study's listed conditions name Irritable Bowel Syndrome, a narrower term within Gastrointestinal Diseases.
Confidence
High: the new condition is named in the study's own listed conditions. Of 351 hand-checked studies reclassified this way, 68% were exactly right and 84% in the right disease family; the registry's first term was right for 5% (measured 2026-10-21). How we classify →
Wrong?
Tell us the study's main condition →

Sponsored by Brain-Gut Research Group · Not applicable, Interventional, and Diagnostic

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
30
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 60 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Background: Breath testing for food intolerances is becoming routine in patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGID). Both FGID and saccharide intolerances (FODMAPs: fermentable oligo-, di-, polysaccharide and polyols, e.g. lactose, fructose, sorbitol) are common (>10% of any given population) and often respond to dietary modification. The breath tests are based on quantification of gas excretion in breath as a sign of malabsorption and symptom provocation, but are likely subject to considerable psychological bias. The role of expectation and other psychological effects on breath testing has not been reported, but is crucial for the validation of these increasingly wide-spread tests with considerable dietary and potentially deleterious consequences. Fructose has been shown to result in short term pro-inflammatory metabolic responses, but these effects have not been studied as underlying causes for intolerance symptoms in fructose intolerant patients with FGID.

Aim: To investigate the psychological component and the short-term metabolic effects of fructose breath testing in patients referred for evaluation of FGID using placebo. Additionally, to assess baseline predictors for a positive breath test result.

Methods: Fructose intolerance (defined by a positive symptom index) and malabsorption (defined by increased breath hydrogen/methane concentrations) will be determined in 30 successive male and female FGID in a single centre using breath-testing. Fructose 35g, given double-blind as well as open, a sweet placebo (cyclamate/saccharine; Assugrin®) and a neutral (still water) placebo given double-blind will be compared in a randomized, cross-over sequence and according to our standardised procedure on four separate study days. Symptoms will be recorded using standardised questionnaires and breath concentrations of H2 and CH4 will be measured during testing on the four study days. Somatisation and psychological profiles will be assessed by questionnaires. Blood samples will be obtained before and during provocation testing to assess short-term responses to fructose loading by metabolomics. Fructose, blinded and open, and placebo responses will be compared and baseline predictors for a positive breath tests assessed.

02

Conditions studied

  • Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders
  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome

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Keywords

  • Fructose
  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome
  • Breath test
  • Placebo
03

In context

Irritable Bowel Syndrome Reclassified

1,116 studies on the registry are indexed under Irritable Bowel Syndrome; 208 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 30 is below the median of 70 across 896 interventional studies indexed under Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Browse Irritable Bowel Syndrome studies →

Lead sponsor

Brain-Gut Research Group is the lead sponsor of 7 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.

Compared within Irritable Bowel Syndrome, this study's primary condition as ClinicalTrials.gg classifies it; the registry's first condition term is Gastrointestinal Diseases. The counts are of registry records indexed under each term, refreshed daily. How we classify →

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 60 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Thirty male or female FGID (Irritable Bowel Syndrome or Functional Dyspepsia according to the Rome III criteria) patients -
  • 10 healthy female and male controls
  • aged between 18 and 60 years

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria:

  • Bowel resections, except appendicectomy or cholecystectomy
  • Evidence of organic disease
  • No medications (excluding antihypertensives, antidepressants and low-dose aspirin), including herbal, from 4 days before the first study day until after breath test
  • Coeliac's disease
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Diagnostic
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Crossover assignment
Masking
Quadruple (Participant, Care provider, Investigator, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
30 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Fructose double-blind

    Fructose during breath test, double-blind 35g

    Procedure: Blinded breath test with fructose

  • Active comparator
    Fructose open

    Fructose during breath test, open 35g

    Procedure: Open breath test with fructose

  • Placebo comparator
    Sweet placebo double-blind

    Assugrin during breath test double-blind

    Procedure: Breath test with sweet placebo (Assugrin)

  • Placebo comparator
    Neutral placebo double-blind

    Water during breath test double-blind

    Procedure: Breath test with neutral placebo (still water)

Interventions

  • ProcedureOpen breath test with fructose

    Open randomised fructose 35g during breath test

  • ProcedureBreath test with sweet placebo (Assugrin)

    Double-blind randomised breath-testing with sweet placebo (Assugrin)

  • ProcedureBreath test with neutral placebo (still water)

    Double-blind randomised breath-testing with neutral placebo

  • ProcedureBlinded breath test with fructose

    Double-blind randomised fructose 35g during breath test

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Fructose intolerance, as percentage of patients

    Defined by symptom scores

    Time frame: 5 hours

Secondary outcomes

  1. Between-group comparisons of breath test gas concentrations and symptom indices

    Breath gas concentrations and cumulative symptoms experienced during breath testing will be compared between treatment groups

    Time frame: 5 hours

  2. Correlations between breath test gas concentrations, symptom indices and metabolite

    Correlations between changes in gas levels, GI symptoms from baseline and changes in metabolites identified by metabolomic analysis in the different treatment and responder groups (i.e intolerance or no intolerance as defined by the standard breath test results). Metabotype and psychological predictors at baseline for intolerance (responder) status during breath testing will be assessed by multiple regression analysis.

    Time frame: 5 hours

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Gastoenterology Group Practice
    Bern, Switzerland
08

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
Not marked actual or estimatedDates not marked actual or estimated

The record gives a start of Jun 2016, a primary completion of Aug 2017 and a completion of Aug 2017. It does not say whether these dates are actual or estimated.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Nov 16, 2015
First posted
Nov 25, 2015
Start
Jun 2016
Primary completionActual
Aug 2017
CompletionActual
Aug 2017
Last update
Dec 17, 2018
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Dec 17, 2018, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02614313
Lead sponsor
Brain-Gut Research Group
Collaborators
New Jersey Medical School, National University of Singapore
Responsible party
C. Wilder-Smith (Dr., Brain-Gut Research Group) — Principal investigator
First posted
Nov 25, 2015
Start date
Jun 2016
Primary completion
Aug 2017
Completion
Aug 2017
Last update
Dec 17, 2018

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in Dec 2018. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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