Introduction: Functional gastrointestinal disorders such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome cause high costs to society and is one of the main causes of absenteeism from work and school.

Objective: To describe gastrointestinal symptoms and their relationship with college lifestyle in students of the Universidad Austral de Chile in 2012.

Methods: A descriptive cross section study. Population: Undergraduate students of the Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia. Variables: personal history, academics, medics, family background, lifestyle, gastrointestinal and extra gastrointestinal symptoms. Data recollection: The information was collected in an auto-applied survey. The data was analyzed by calculating the ?2 statistical test (p <0.05), using the free license program: Epi-Info7™.

Results: 60% of students at the Universidad Austral de Chile have presented gastrointestinal distress in recent months. The highest percentage of faculty with gastrointestinal symptoms was the Faculty of economics Sciences. The most prevalent gastrointestinal symptoms were abdominal swelling (63.7%) and bowel sounds (55.8%). The 72.38% of the stressed students had gastrointestinal symptoms. Symptoms were mainly exacerbated with caffeinated drinks, fatty foods and dairy products. The prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome is 5.60%. The 37.56% of the respondents were active smokers, 82.16% were alcohol consumers and 16.27% consumed both.

Discussion: The prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome was low (5.58%). We observed a marked difference by gender, being widely increased in women. There was no relationship between lifestyle and Irritable Bowel Symptoms.