A NORTH company has developed a way to manage a common and distressing condition, which could bring relief to thousands of people.

Yorktest Laboratories, the North Yorkshire company that last year claimed a world first by developing a quick screening test for food intolerance, has gone a step further.

The company said it has developed a "management package" that can ease the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

It combines its food intolerance test, based on a pin-prick of blood, with a follow-up programme including dietary advice.

The programme involves a guidebook and a half-hour telephone consultation with a nutritionist to help develop a diet to reduce IBS symptoms.

Professor Nick Read, chairman of the IBS Network, the main support organisation for people with the condition, said he was delighted with the development.

He said: "This is the first time that a commercially available blood test for food intolerance has been subjected to scientific scrutiny, and the results indicate that food elimination guided by the results of the test can improve the symptoms of IBS.

"It would seem, therefore, that Yorktest can offer useful guidance for dietary modification as a component of the self-management of Irritable Bowel Syndrome."

IBS is believed to affect nearly a million Britons, and as many as a fifth of people in the UK suffer from IBS symptoms at a time.

These can include bloating, diarrhoea, constipation, stomach pains and associated feelings of lethargy, fatigue and headaches.

A spokesman for Yorktest said the DIY kit, which collects a small sample of blood, means that people do not need to visit their GP to give a blood sample.

The initial food intolerance test, which will give a simple positive or negative result, costs £19.99.

If the result is positive, a more comprehensive food intolerance check is recommended, which costs £260.