Scan the barcode with Bite Insight, a free app for UK supermarket food, and it marks ingredients often linked to IBS symptoms, like garlic, onion, wheat, lactose, inulin and sorbitol. You also get digestive load, fibre and additives ratings. It doesn’t measure FODMAP levels, and triggers differ from person to person, so it can’t tell you what you’ll react to.
Food labels list ingredients, not how they affect your gut. Knowing which processed foods contain hidden FODMAP triggers takes specialist knowledge most people simply do not have.
Guts UK puts it at somewhere between 4 in 100 and 1 in 10 people around the world. Twice as many women as men are diagnosed.
That’s Guts UK’s figure. Working out which foods, and how much of them, usually takes a food and symptom diary and some patience.
Guts UK says about a third have IBS-C and another third have IBS-D, with diarrhoea. Fibre advice is different for each, so one rule for everyone rarely works.
UK labels don’t show FODMAPs. The ingredients that often bother people with IBS, like garlic powder, inulin or sorbitol, sit in the small print, sometimes under names you wouldn’t guess. The app can read them for you, or you can check the pack yourself.
Do it once when you sign up, or later in settings. You’ll be asked whether you have IBS-C, IBS-D or mixed, or you can pick I’m not sure. Your answer is saved, but scan results are the same whichever type you choose.
You get three ratings: digestive load, fibre and additives. Under Flagged ingredients, anything often linked to IBS gets a red cross, such as garlic, onion, wheat, whey or sorbitol. Tap one to see why. If a product has no fat figure, the digestive load rating is left out.
Low
Moderate
High
Very HighWorked out from fat and fibre per 100g. It isn’t a FODMAP score.
Cambridge University Hospitals’ low FODMAP leaflet says to check for onion and garlic as powder, extract, purée or salt. They turn up in flavoured crisps, gravy, ready meals, pasta sauces, soups and stock cubes. The word ’flavouring’ can hide them too.
Most end in -ol, like sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol and maltitol. Isomalt is one too. The NHS says polyols can have a laxative effect in large amounts, and suggests avoiding sorbitol if you get bloating or diarrhoea. If added polyols make up more than 10% of a product, the pack has to carry a warning.
Inulin, chicory root, FOS and oligofructose can be added to foods sold as high fibre, such as some bars and cereals. The same leaflet lists them as fructans to watch for. For fibre in general, the NHS says cutting down on wholegrains, nuts and seeds may help diarrhoea, while more soluble fibre like oats may help constipation.
The NHS says spicy or fatty food can set off a flare-up, and advises against eating lots of it. On a UK label, more than 17.5g of fat per 100g counts as high and 3g or less counts as low. Bite Insight’s digestive load rating uses the fat figure too.
Gluten-free products are usually wheat-free, but Cambridge University Hospitals points out they can still contain apple juice, honey, inulin or garlic. Guts UK says there’s little evidence that a gluten-free diet helps IBS. It also says not to try an exclusion diet like low FODMAP on your own. Only do it if a dietitian recommends it.
Digestive load is Bite Insight’s own rating. It adds together the fat and fibre per 100g on the label, so the more of both a food has, the higher it goes, from Low to Very High. It doesn’t measure FODMAPs and it isn’t a clinical score. There are no official UK bands for it, unlike the NHS traffic lights for fat. FODMAP-type ingredients are handled separately. The app reads the ingredients list and marks matches like garlic, inulin or sorbitol as harmful.
The digestive load, fibre and additives ratings and the IBS ingredient flags are all free, with no scan limit. Compare Free and Bite Insight+
Bite Insight gives general food information, not medical advice. Digestive load is the app’s own rating, not a FODMAP score, and a red cross on an ingredient doesn’t mean you’ll react to it. The NHS says to see your GP if you’ve had symptoms for more than 4 weeks, and to ask for an urgent appointment or call NHS 111 if you notice bleeding from your bottom or lose a lot of weight for no reason. Your GP may refer you to a dietitian.
Bite Insight does not give everyone the same results. Set your IBS profile once and every scan is filtered through your specific needs.
When the label gives a fat figure, you get a Low, Moderate, High or Very High digestive load rating, worked out from the fat and fibre per 100g. It’s a rough guide to how rich a food is, not a FODMAP score.
Tell Bite Insight you have IBS and it marks ingredients often linked to IBS symptoms with a red cross. That includes garlic, onion, wheat, lactose, inulin and sweeteners like sorbitol, plus additives such as carrageenan. It’s free on every scan.
Add your own ingredients to avoid, like apple or chickpeas. Whenever one turns up in a product you scan, Bite Insight shows an orange Flagged card so you can check the pack before buying.
For IBS, digestive load is the first rating you see after a scan. It adds up the fat and fibre per 100g, so richer foods score higher. It doesn’t measure FODMAPs. The ingredient flags handle those.
No more spending hours trying to decode ingredients lists.
Point your camera at any food barcode or label. In the supermarket, at home, or eating out.
Bite Insight checks the product against your IBS profile. You see digestive load, fibre and additive ratings, IBS ingredient flags, and anything you’ve flagged yourself with Bite Insight+.
Make food decisions that are right for you, not based on trial and error or guesswork.
Real experience
“I spent two years trying to work out what was causing my flare-ups. Bite Insight made it so much easier to see what was in products without spending ten minutes on every label. I have finally started making real progress with understanding my triggers.”
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About using Bite Insight with IBS.
Yes. Bite Insight is a free UK app that scans a product’s barcode and marks ingredients often linked to IBS with a red cross, such as garlic, onion, wheat, lactose, inulin and sorbitol. It also rates digestive load, fibre and additives. It can’t tell you which of these you personally react to, and it doesn’t measure FODMAPs, so read the pack too. Look for onion or garlic powder, ’flavouring’ in savoury foods, and the polyol warning about laxative effects. A dietitian can help you work out your own triggers.
Cambridge University Hospitals’ low FODMAP leaflet lists the ones to check for. Onion and garlic in any form, including powder, extract and salt. Added fibres like inulin, chicory root, FOS and oligofructose. Honey, fruit juice concentrate and high fructose corn syrup. Sweeteners such as sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, maltitol and isomalt. Lactose only matters if you don’t absorb it well. Guts UK says not to try a low FODMAP diet on your own, so ask your GP about seeing a dietitian.
It depends on your symptoms. The NHS says cutting down on high-fibre wholegrains, nuts and seeds may help if you have diarrhoea. For constipation, it suggests more soluble fibre, such as oats, pulses, carrots and linseeds, and plenty of water. Guts UK says about a third of people have IBS-C and another third IBS-D, so the right answer varies. Bite Insight shows a fibre rating whenever the label gives a fibre figure, but the rating doesn’t change with your IBS type.
Yes. You add IBS to your health profile when you sign up, or any time in settings. Every scan then checks the product against it. Ingredients often linked to IBS, such as garlic, onion, wheat, lactose, inulin and sorbitol, are marked as harmful, and you get digestive load, fibre and additives ratings.
Digestive load adds together the fat and fibre per 100g on the label. The more of both, the higher the rating, from Low to Very High. It isn’t a FODMAP score and doesn’t look at ingredients. High FODMAP ingredients are picked up separately, in the Flagged ingredients list.
Not directly. There’s no symptom or trigger diary in the app, though it does keep a history of what you’ve scanned. The NHS suggests keeping a food and symptom diary to find your triggers. Once you know them, Bite Insight+ lets you flag those ingredients, and they’re highlighted whenever they show up in a product you scan.
Partly. The IBS profile flags many high FODMAP ingredients. That covers lactose sources like milk and whey, fructans like garlic, onion, wheat, inulin and FOS, polyols such as sorbitol, mannitol and xylitol, and fructose sources like honey and high fructose corn syrup. It doesn’t reliably catch galactans in beans and pulses. It also doesn’t give a FODMAP score or know how much of an ingredient is in a product.
No. Bite Insight provides educational food insights to help you make more informed choices at the point of purchase. It is not a substitute for advice from your GP, gastroenterologist, or dietitian. If you are following a low FODMAP elimination diet under medical supervision, use Bite Insight to support that process rather than replace it.
