Pooping Shouldn’t Be This Hard: Using Nutrition to Address Constipation in Primary Care

Primary care providers commonly see and treat cases of constipation. The condition can be emotionally and financially taxing for the patient and family. Nutrition as a therapeutic measure for constipation should be discussed with the family as an acceptable nonpharmacologic solution. There is not enough equivocal evidence to support or discredit the use of nutrition as the only tool in addressing constipation, and additional research is still needed to understand its role in functional constipation. Improved nutrition as treatment for functional constipation may be requested by patients, with no harmful consequences. This article intends to summarize the available clinical evidence regarding the use of diet and nutrition to resolve functional constipation in the pediatric primary care setting.