A comprehensive study published in "Nutrition Reviews" has shed light on the impact of gluten on symptoms of dyspepsia. The objective was to evaluate how gluten influences the symptoms of dyspepsia. To gather data, researchers conducted a meticulous search of several esteemed online databases, including PubMed, International Scientific Indexing (ISI), Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane, and Embase, covering the period up to May 2022.

The study included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) as well as non-RCTs that assessed the effect of a low-gluten diet, a gluten-free diet, or a gluten challenge on dyspepsia. These symptoms were assessed independently by two authors and encompassed early satiety, epigastric pain, bloating, and nausea. The certainty of the evidence was evaluated using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) framework. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, the results were combined utilizing a random-effects model and presented as weighted mean differences (WMDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Out of the 7641 citations initially identified, the researchers included 27 articles (comprising 9 non-RCTs and 18 RCTs) for the systematic review. Of these, five RCTs exhibited eligibility for the meta-analysis. The pooled results demonstrated a significant rise in the severity of bloating (WMD = 0.67; n = 6), early satiety (WMD = 0.91; n = 5), and epigastric pain (WMD = 0.46; n = 6) as a result of gluten challenge. But, the impact of gluten challenge on nausea severity was found to be non-significant (WMD = 0.13; n = 5).

In conclusion, this study highlights that gluten challenge exacerbates dyspeptic symptoms, specifically bloating, early satiety, and epigastric pain, while leaving nausea unaffected. These findings suggest that restricting gluten use may be beneficial to relieve the symptoms of dyspepsia. To further elucidate the effectiveness of gluten restriction on dyspeptic symptoms, the researchers emphasize the need for large-scale robust RCTs that recruit homogenous groups of individuals suffering from functional dyspepsia.