verella

What Verella checks for IBS

Turn on IBS in your profile and three extra rules run on every label. The polyol rule is the one that catches products nobody expects, because sugar-free is where polyols live.

The 3 rules

  • Fat is 17.5 g or more per 100 g, or saturated fat is 5 g or more

    High in fat. Fatty foods can trigger symptoms for some people with IBS. Consider how this sits with you.

    Source: NICE CG61, Irritable bowel syndrome in adults; British Dietetic Association, IBS Food Fact Sheet

  • Fibre is 6 g or more per 100 g

    High in fibre. Some people with IBS tolerate high-fibre foods less well, and guidance suggests adjusting fibre to your own symptoms.

    Source: NICE CG61, Irritable bowel syndrome in adults; Monash University FODMAP research

  • Sorbitol (E420), mannitol (E421), isomalt (E953), maltitol (E965), lactitol (E966) or xylitol (E967) appears in the ingredients or additive tags

    Contains a polyol sweetener, for example sorbitol. Guidance suggests some people with IBS, especially with diarrhoea, tolerate these less well. Consider how this sits with you.

    Source: NICE CG61, Irritable bowel syndrome in adults, which advises people with diarrhoea to avoid sorbitol; British Dietetic Association, IBS Food Fact Sheet

What this looks like on a real product

A tin of chickpeas, 6 g of fibre and 1.5 g of sugars per 100 g.

Scanned with no conditions set

Fine in moderation

Low in calories, almost no sugar, decent fibre.

The same tin, scanned with IBS turned on

Better occasionally

The fibre clears 6 g per 100 g, so the tolerance note fires and the tin drops a tier. Nothing about the tin changed.

Both verdicts above are real output from the shipped Verella engine, run on live Open Food Facts data on 5 October 2026, with only the condition changed between the two profiles. Open Food Facts data changes over time, so a scan today can differ.

The one that catches people out

A chocolate protein bar with 12.2 g of fibre and 12.2 g of sugars per 100 g comes back Better occasionally either way, so the verdict looks unchanged. What changes is what you are told: with IBS turned on, the bar carries three notes the default profile never sees, and one of them is the polyol sweetener. Sugar-free and high-fibre is exactly the combination where polyols hide.

Worth knowing

  • Erythritol is deliberately left out of the polyol rule. It is largely absorbed, so it does not carry the same FODMAP concern as sorbitol or maltitol, and flagging it would be a false alarm.
  • Fibre tolerance in IBS runs both ways, which is why the fibre note says to adjust fibre to your own symptoms rather than to cut it.

These rules encode broadly published patient guidance and are hedged on purpose. Verella cannot know your disease activity, your medication or what your care team has already advised, so every note defers to them.

Verella provides general nutrition information. It is not medical or dietary advice and it is not a substitute for a doctor or a registered dietitian.

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The other condition guides

Crohn's disease

5 rules

Acid reflux and GERD

3 rules

Type 2 diabetes

2 rules

High blood pressure

1 rule

High cholesterol

2 rules

The ingredient watchlist runs on every scan as well, whatever conditions you have set. How the engine puts it all together.