Can I get the low FODMAP diet on the NHS?

Yes. The low FODMAP diet is available through NHS dietitians, but usually only once general diet and lifestyle changes haven’t helped your IBS. How you reach it depends on where you live. Some services start you on NHS video courses and let you book an appointment yourself later, while others need a referral from your GP.

It’s meant to come with a dietitian for a reason, and that reason is most of what this page is about.

Who can be referred to an NHS dietitian for IBS?

Someone with IBS whose symptoms carry on despite the general advice. A GP may refer you to an NHS dietitian if ordinary changes to your diet and lifestyle haven’t helped, and the dietitian may then suggest low FODMAP. It’s also worth going back to your GP if you find you’re avoiding lots of different foods to keep symptoms down.

The order matters. NICE’s guideline for IBS says advice on single food avoidance and exclusion diets, low FODMAP included, should come when symptoms persist after the general advice, and should only be given by a healthcare professional with expertise in dietary management. In practice that means a dietitian.

It also assumes the diagnosis is settled. Coeliac disease and inflammatory bowel disease should have been ruled out first, which is covered in how IBS is diagnosed in the UK.

What is the general advice I’m meant to try first?

The first line advice for IBS is plain, and it’s meant to come first:

• regular meals, with time to eat them
• no missed meals or long gaps between eating
• at least 8 cups of fluid a day, mostly water or other drinks without caffeine
• tea and coffee kept to 3 cups a day
• less alcohol and fewer fizzy drinks
• fresh fruit kept to 3 portions a day, a portion being about 80g

Make one change at a time, and keep a food and symptom diary while you do, so you can see what helped. Hold each change long enough to judge it fairly before you decide it hasn’t worked. A seven day symptom log is a good place to start recording.

Why does it depend on where you live?

Because every NHS dietetic service designs its own route. The diet is the same, but the door into it isn’t. These four were published by the services themselves and checked on 1 October 2026.

So the fair answer to “can I get it on the NHS” is yes, by whichever route your local service has chosen. Your GP practice is the place to ask which one applies to you.

What does a dietitian do that a website can’t?

They run all three stages, and the last two are where the value is. First, FODMAPs are reduced all at once until symptoms settle to a manageable level. Then foods come back, to find which ones cause trouble. Then you settle into a diet that includes every FODMAP food you tolerate.

That last stage matters because most FODMAP foods are prebiotic, which means they feed the gut bacteria. Staying on the strict first stage indefinitely isn’t the aim, and a dietitian is there to make sure your diet stays nutritionally adequate while you’re restricting.

When it’s done this way, it helps around a half to two thirds of people with IBS. There’s no evidence yet that it works for other digestive conditions.

The FODMAPs themselves are foods the gut doesn’t break down easily, such as some types of fruit and vegetables, milk and wheat products. I’m not printing a food list here, on purpose. Low FODMAP websites and printed diet sheets used with nobody supporting you are the thing to avoid, and an exclusion diet may not suit anyone who has, or has had, an eating disorder.

Is the NHS video course the same as seeing a dietitian?

It’s the teaching without the person. The Patient Webinars series, which the NHS IBS pages link to, is made by specialist NHS gastroenterology dietitians, and anyone can watch it online. There’s a first line advice video of about 35 minutes, a low FODMAP video of about an hour, a short one on reintroduction and one on reducing lactose.

Some services use it as the first step, so you may be pointed there before you’re offered an appointment. That’s a fair use of it. What it can’t do is look at your diet, notice that you’ve dropped half your food groups, or adjust the plan to you. If you can’t follow it, or you’ve followed it and nothing has changed, say so and ask for the appointment.

Can I see a dietitian privately?

Yes, if the NHS route is slow or isn’t offered where you live. Check the person is registered: dietitian is a title protected by law, and to use it someone must be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council. You can search that register, and the British Dietetic Association keeps a directory of freelance dietitians.

What should I say to my GP?

Short, specific sentences work best. Any of these is a reasonable thing to say:

• “I’ve followed the general IBS diet advice for [how long] and it hasn’t helped. Can I be referred to a dietitian?”
• “Has coeliac disease been checked? I’m still eating gluten.”
• “Does our area have a self referral route, or an NHS video course I should start with?”
• “I’m cutting out more and more foods to cope, and I’d like help doing this properly.”

If something new appears while you wait, it goes to your GP or NHS 111, not to the diet. In the NHS’s words, ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 if “you have lost a lot of weight for no reason”, “you’re bleeding from your bottom or have bloody diarrhoea”, or “you find a hard lump or swelling in your tummy”.

If you’re still working out whether your bloating fits this route at all, the bloating quiz asks six questions and ends with a next step rather than a label.