The BRAT diet is no longer recommended after a stomach bug

Following it for more than a day deprives body of nutrients it needs to recover, UCI Health expert cautions

IN THE NEWS: For decades, a diet of bananas, rice, applesauce or toast stood as a trusty go-to for anyone recovering from a gastrointestinal illness.

However, the regimen more commonly known as the BRAT diet may be doing more harm than good in the long run, Dr. Shruti Gohil, the assistant medical director of UCI Health Epidemiology and Infection Prevention, tells the New York Times.

“If you’re having trouble keeping things down, is it good to eat what you can? Sure. But there’s no evidence that eating such a limited diet improves vomiting or diarrhea.”

Following it for longer than a day, Gohil says, deprives your body of the nutrients it needs to get well. She recommends nutritious foods that are easy on the stomach, such as chicken breast, eggs, oatmeal and potatoes.

One’s top priority, however, should be adequate hydration, because gastrointestinal illness disrupts the body’s ability to absorb water and electrolytes.

Gohil is an associate professor at the UC Irvine School of Medicine. Her clinical interests include hospital epidemiology, infection prevention, communicable disease transmission and multidrug-resistant organism infections.

Gohil has led INSPIRE, a series of national studies to assess patient risk for multidrug-resistant bacterial infections and to prompt physicians to limit the use of extended-spectrum antibacterial drugs in real time. She is a member of The Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Society of Healthcare Epidemiologists in America.