Report spotlights older trial of yoga for IBS with diarrhea
Asivana YogaShare
A New York Post report published on August 2, 2026, highlighted research suggesting that a yoga-based program may help reduce symptoms in people with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS-D.
The report's exact underlying evidence could not be fully assessed because the supplied New York Post page was inaccessible during review. However, the description appears consistent with a randomized clinical study published in March 2004 by researchers affiliated with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, India.
According to the study abstract indexed by PubMed, the trial involved 22 men ages 20 to 50 with confirmed IBS-D. Participants received either conventional symptom treatment, including loperamide, or a two-month yoga program involving 12 postures and right-nostril breathing practice twice daily.
The abstract reports that both groups had significant decreases in bowel symptoms and state anxiety after two months. It concluded that the yoga intervention showed a beneficial effect compared with conventional treatment. The study was small, with nine participants in the yoga group and 12 initially assigned to conventional treatment, including one dropout.
The New York Post headline described a 50% improvement. That specific figure could not be independently verified from the accessible trial abstract, which does not provide a 50% symptom-improvement result. It is also unclear whether the newspaper was referring to a particular symptom measure, a subgroup, or another source not identified in the supplied material.
More recent research offers limited but suggestive context. A 2022 randomized trial of 79 adults found that online Hatha yoga was feasible and that symptoms declined within the yoga group, but the study did not find a statistically significant difference between yoga and an advice-only control group on its primary IBS symptom outcome. The U.S. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health states that a small amount of evidence suggests yoga and other exercise may help IBS symptoms, while noting that larger, well-designed studies are still needed.
Editorial note: Asivana Yoga prepares Yoga News reports from publicly available sources and aims to present information accurately, fairly, and without editorial opinion. News may develop after publication, and source information may be incomplete, disputed, or later corrected. Although we review the available material, we may get details wrong. Please consult the original sources listed below for the most current information and contact Asivana Yoga if you believe a correction is needed.
Verification status: This report concerns developing or incompletely verified information. Asivana Yoga has attributed claims to their original sources and identified details that could not be independently confirmed at the time of publication. This article may be updated as additional information becomes available.
Sources
- PubMed: Yogic versus conventional treatment in diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome: a randomized control study
- New York Post: Can yoga prevent diarrhea? The workout showed 50% improvement for people with common stomach condition
- PubMed: Meditation and Yoga for Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Randomized Clinical Trial
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health: Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Complementary Health Approaches
