A joint team of researchers from Sweden, Italy, Greece and the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota claim to have unearthed a clue to a genetic basis for irritable bowel syndrome.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common intestinal disorder that affects about 15-20% of the Western world. In some countries, such as Sweden, IBS is the second highest cause of work absenteeism, after common colds.

Symptoms of IBS include cramping, abdominal pain, bloating gas, diarrhea and constipation.

Treatments for IBS tend to focus on relieving symptoms rather than addressing the root cause of the condition. This is because researchers have not found conclusive evidence to the origins of IBS. Instead, a variety of factors – from diet to past trauma – have all been considered as having some kind of influence.

In 2012, for instance, the US Department of Veterans Affairs implemented a new assessment rule for disability benefits taking into account a high incidence of IBS among veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. This led doctors to wonder if IBS was caused by exposure to high levels of stress in conjunction with gastrointestinal infections from food or water.

Scientists from 19 European countries gathered together in 2013 to investigate the causes of IBS. Researchers from this network, known as GENIEUR (Genes in Irritable Bowel Syndrome Europe), included the Stockholm Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, who also contributed to the new study.