Beverage intake preference and bowel preparation laxative taste preference for colonoscopy

Area of Science:

• Gastroenterology
• Clinical Pharmacology

Background:

• Effective bowel preparation is crucial for colonoscopy.
• Patient adherence to bowel preparation regimens is often limited by palatability.
• Polyethylene glycol (PEG)-based laxatives are common but can be unpalatable.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if non-alcoholic beverage intake preferences can guide the selection of polyethylene glycol (PEG)-based bowel laxative preparations.
• To assess patient taste preferences for different PEG formulations.

Main Methods:

• Eight public taste test sessions were conducted with 777 volunteers.
• Volunteers tasted unflavored PEG, citrus-flavored PEG, and PEG with ascorbate (Moviprep) in random order.
• Participants ranked laxatives based on taste preference; beverage intake patterns were recorded.

Main Results:

• Citrus-flavored PEG was the most preferred (68.7%), followed by PEG with ascorbate (22.3%), and unflavored PEG (9.0%).
• Demographics, lifestyle, and intake patterns of coffee, tea, and carbonated drinks did not predict PEG laxative preference.
• No correlation was found between usual beverage preferences and laxative palatability.

Conclusions:

• Beverage intake patterns are not a reliable predictor of patient preference for PEG-based laxative preparations.
• Development of more tolerable and affordable bowel preparation laxatives is needed.
• Recommending patients taste PEG solutions before preparing large volumes may improve tolerance and adherence.