A new study just gave a lot of people permission to stop feeling like their gut symptoms are unrelated to everything else going on. Researchers at the University of Warwick analysed data from 1.9 million people across 23 studies and found that ADHD is linked to significantly higher rates of gut problems — including 58% higher odds of IBS, nearly double the odds of constipation, and a much higher rate of gut symptoms overall.
What the study actually found
Published in the Journal of Attention Disorders, this is the first large-scale systematic review to focus specifically on gut symptoms in people with ADHD. Alongside the IBS finding, researchers found a much higher rate of encopresis and general digestive symptoms. The researchers point to a few possible explanations: ADHD-related traits like impulsivity and irregular eating patterns, gut side effects from some ADHD medications, and a growing body of evidence around the gut-brain axis — the same nerve-based connection between gut and brain we've written about before.
Why this matters, without overstating it
To be clear about what this study does and doesn't show: it's a strong association, not proof that one causes the other. It doesn't mean ADHD causes IBS, or that treating one automatically fixes the other. What it does mean is that if you're managing both, you're not imagining a connection — the numbers back up what a lot of people have quietly suspected for years.
What's actually within your control
We're not going to pretend a protein powder addresses ADHD — it doesn't, and we'd never suggest otherwise. But if irregular eating patterns are part of what's driving gut symptoms, as the researchers suggest, then something simple and consistent is worth having in place. A low FODMAP protein that doesn't itself add to gut irritation is one small, practical piece — not a fix, just one less variable to worry about on days when routine is already hard to hold onto.
Free UK delivery on orders over £30. Every That Protein blend is built low FODMAP from the ingredient list up.