Functional Dyspepsia (FD)
How our dietitians can help you
- Step-wise guidance: We’ll step you through our parallel approach for symptom management and adjusting your eating habits without cutting out more than you need to.
- Know your gut: Understand the relationship between what, how, and when you eat influences symptoms like pain, fullness, bloating and wind.
- Know your food triggers: Our dietitians help you identify your personal food triggers- and develop ‘best bet’ dietary strategies to stay below your symptom threshold.
- Regain food enjoyment: Our dietary management approaches accommodate fear of food or eating that understandably results from associated symptoms over time.
- Holistic care: Dietary approaches in conditions like FD may be more effective when combined with other lifestyle strategies. We help you explore the range of available, evidence-based therapies, including how you could integrate them into your life.
- Nurture gut health: We focus on minimising symptoms in parallel to building gut health using whole food-based approaches.
- Expert guidance with empathy: Drs Kerith Duncanson and Georgina Williams bring deep IBS research experience and a compassionate, individualised approach to every client.
More about Functional Dyspepsia
Dietary Management
Functional dyspepsia (FD) is very common but not as well known as IBS or reflux, which it is often confused with – even by health professionals. FD is characterised by discomfort or pain in the middle of the abdomen, often after eating. You might experience:
- Full quickly during meals
- Bloated or gassy
- A burning or aching pain in your mid or upper belly – not the lower abdomen
- Nausea or burping
- A gastroscopy did not show anything unusual
The tricky part of managing FD is that despite debilitating symptoms, medical tests come back normal. That’s because FD is a functional gut disorder- meaning the gut looks fine but doesn’t work quite right. It is now considered a disorder of gut-brain interaction, meaning that vagus nerve pathway between the gut and the brain becomes ‘hot-wired’ or hyperactive. Stress, certain foods, and gut bacteria imbalances can all play a role, and we help you unpack it.
Our FD publications
- Egboh, S.M., Duncanson, K., Potter, M., Keely, S. and Talley, N.J., 2025. Functional dyspepsia and gastroparesis: are they distinct disorders, a spectrum of diseases or one disease?. eGastroenterology, 3(1).
- Shah, A., Fairlie, T., Brown, G., Jones, M.P., Eslick, G.D., Duncanson, K., Thapar, N., Keely, S., Koloski, N., Shahi, M. and Walker, M.M., 2022. Duodenal eosinophils and mast cells in functional dyspepsia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of case-control studies. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 20(10), pp.2229-2242.
- Duncanson, K., Burns, G., Pryor, J., Keely, S. and Talley, N.J., 2021. Mechanisms of food-induced symptom induction and dietary management in functional dyspepsia. Nutrients, 13(4), p.1109.
- Potter, M.D., Duncanson, K., Jones, M.P., Walker, M.M., Keely, S. and Talley, N.J., 2020. Wheat sensitivity and functional dyspepsia: a pilot, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled dietary crossover trial with novel challenge protocol. Nutrients, 12(7), p.1947.
- Pryor, J., Burns, G.L., Duncanson, K., Horvat, J.C., Walker, M.M., Talley, N.J. and Keely, S., 2020. Functional dyspepsia and food: immune overlap with food sensitivity disorders. Current gastroenterology reports, 22, pp.1-10.
- Duncanson, K., Talley, N.J., Walker, M.M. and Burrows, T.L., 2018. Food and functional dyspepsia: a systematic review. Journal of human nutrition and dietetics, 31(3), pp.390-407.
Book with Kerith or Georgina
Kerith and Georgina specialise in various gastrointestinal conditions and symptoms. Their consulting work with clients complements their research in gastrointestinal nutrition.
Face-to-face appointments
Kerith offers appointments at Newcastle Gastroenterology and Health HQ Salamander Bay.
Contact Us
Email – office@helpyourself.com.au