Have you ever picked up a skin care product containing honey or sorbitol, both FODMAPS, and wondered if it could have any effect on your IBS?
If you've discovered your symptoms are triggered by ingesting FODMAPS carbohydrates, all the action is in your large intestine, where the fermentability and osmotic activity that are characteristics of FODMAPS come into play. I can't think of any way that FODMAPS applied to your skin could possibly cause symptoms via the FODMAPS scenario, since there is no route for it to travel into the lumen of the colon from there.
Of course, some substances are absorbed through the skin into the bloodstream, so it is still possible that certain ingredients or chemicals in skin care products might trigger inflammatory reactions in the body via immune-mediated pathways, but that is a different kettle of fish altogether.
