Irritable bowel syndrome can be a pain to live with (literally). Scientists already know that switching off that pain in the brain is harder for people with IBS. And dieting for these symptoms can be a tricky element to deal with as well. Researchers are slowly starting to learn more about IBS and what causes it. For example, they have recently made a connection to irritable bowel syndrome and allergies.

Seasonal allergic rhinitis upped the likelihood of having IBS by nearly three times. Patients with allergic eczema (like skin inflammations) were almost four times as likely to have the syndrome. Interestingly enough, depression also factored in with 2.56 times the likelihood of having it, which contradicts an earlier study that discredits depression as indicating a higher risk for IBS.

Now these are correlations, not direct causes. They still don't know exactly why these symptoms crop up in certain individuals, but they can pinpoint connections among them to help identify risk factors. Hopefully more research will address specific causes in the future.