Method For Diagnosing Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Monitoring Inflammatory Bowel Disease

A method for monitoring a human having inflammatory bowel disease for gastrointestinal inflammation, the method comprising:

• obtaining a first fecal sample from a human having inflammatory bowel disease at a first time;
• determining the concentration of endogenous lactoferrin in said first fecal sample to obtain a first lactoferrin concentration;
• obtaining a second fecal sample from the human having inflammatory bowel disease at a time later than the first time;
• determining the concentration of endogenous lactoferrin in said second sample to obtain a second lactoferrin concentration;
• and
• comparing said first lactoferrin concentration to said second lactoferrin concentration to determine whether the human has had an increase or decrease in gastrointestinal inflammation.