Is the diet of patients with interstitial cystitis related to their disease?

The dietary habits of interstitial cystitis (IC) patients compared to the average food and fluid consumption of the general population were evaluated and any spontaneous preference or avoidance of specific foodstuffs and fluids of IC patients was investigated.

A verbal interview with 16 IC patients provided information on the consumption of foodstuffs and fluids as well as dietary habits. Prior to the dietary interview none of the IC patients were aware of any possible dietary measures in relation to their IC symptoms. The results were compared to the averages of the general population.

IC patients consumed statistically significantly less calories and fat (p < 0.05), and statistically significantly more fibers (p < 0.01) than the general population. Among the IC patients there were significantly fewer consumers of coffee (p < 0.01) and significantly more consumers of (herbal) tea (p < 0.05). The difference in orange juice consumption was not significant.

According to general standards, IC patients had a more healthy daily diet than the general population. The observation that IC patients consumed less coffee (caffeine) than the general population is consistent with previous reports on irritative IC symptoms exacerbating after caffeine consumption. No rationale for other dietary or fluid intake changes was found.