A North-East firm has developed a way to manage a common and distressing disease which could bring relief to millions.

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

The company says it has developed a "management package" which can ease the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS.

It combines their unique 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 30 minute telephone consultation with a qualified nutritionist to help develop a diet which will reduce IBS symptoms.

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

"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 the Yorktest can offer useful guidance for dietary modification as a component of the self-management of Irritable Bowel Syndrome."

Irritable bowel syndrome is believed to affect nearly a million Britons but as many as 20 per cent of the UK population suffers from IBS symptoms at any time.

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

A spokesman for Yorktest said the D-I-Y kit which collects a small sample of blood mean that people do not need to visit their GP to obtain 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 an additional £260.

This will measure the antibody response to 113 specific food allergen extracts and form the basis of dietary advice.