Kiwi helps to effectively relieve constipation

Consuming two green kiwis per day effectively helps against constipation and improves gastrointestinal issues, according to a recent study.

Key take-aways

The study compared effectiveness of kiwis and psyllium.
Study participants included healthy people, patients with functional constipation, and patients with irritable bowel syndrome and prevalent constipation (IBS-C).
The consumption of kiwi fruit led to a noticeable increase in stool frequency and a significant improvement in gastrointestinal symptoms. complaints.

Kiwis and psyllium seeds were compared

The study directly compared the effect of psyllium and the kiwi fruit. The participants, which included a healthy control group as well as patients with IBS-C and people with functional constipation, were first randomised and assigned to the kiwi or psyllium group.

The fruit group ate 2 kiwis a day for four weeks. The people in the psyllium group took 7.5 mg of psyllium per day over the same period. After a four-week break, the groups were switched. That is, those who had been in the kiwi group took psyllium, and those who had been taking psyllium were were allowed to eat kiwis.

Kiwis improve stool irregularity and other symptoms

After another four weeks, the results could be compared directly with each other, with the kiwi fruit clearly ahead:

After consuming two green kiwis per day, there was a significantly increased number of spontaneous bowel movements (p = 0.0003).
The fruit significantly reduced the presence of gastrointestinal complaints such as flatulence or pain (p < 0.0001).

Conclusions for medical practice

For many people, green kiwis can be a suitable method for the treatment of constipation or abdominal complaints, such as those associated with irritable bowel syndrome. Already two fruits a day had significant effects in the present study.

Reference

Gearry R, Fukudo S, Barbara G, Kuhn-Sherlock B, Ansell J, Blatchford P, Eady S, Wallace
A, Butts C, Cremon C, Barbaro MR, Pagano I, Okawa Y, Muratubaki T, Okamoto T, Fuda M,
Endo Y, Kano M, Kanazawa M, Nakaya N, Nakaya K, Drummond L. Consumption of 2
Green Kiwifruits Daily Improves Constipation and Abdominal Comfort-Results of an
International Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial. Am J Gastroenterol. 2023 Jan 9. doi:
10.14309/ajg.0000000000002124. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36537785.