IBS can be a mild inconvenience or it can dominate your life. Richard Emerson is adding to the information available to sufferers in his previous book Irritable Bowel Syndrome. A drug breakthrough has so far failed to materialise and IBS continues to need a multi-targeted approach with diet and other lifestyle changes being among the most effective approaches. The most promising field of research to impact on IBS has been in microbiology. In recent years two new terms have entered the language -- probiotics and prebiotics. These words refer to the bacterial guardians of the digestive tract that keep us from harm, they play a really important part in the management of your IBS. Recently more has been discovered about the fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices that are of particular benefit to IBS sufferers.