The Effects Of Probiotics

Probiotics are live organisms that confer a health benefit on the host when administered. The live organism to function in the gut needs to surpass the gastric juices and bile exposure the gastrointestinal (GI). It must thrive and multiply in the digestive tract, be safe, effective and maintain its potency for is shelf life to function. Many probiotic products come in yogurt, fermented milk, powder/capsule, or beverages. Different strains of micro-organisms are used for various functions such as, for the relief or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), lowering of serum cholesterol, immunity, constipation, and treating antibiotic associated diarrhea (AAD). The purpose of this paper is to learn whether probiotics are in fact effective in treating …show more content…
Results from a meta-analyses study showed that probiotics in fact produce a relative risk reduction of 44-77% for antibiotic associated diarrhea and 41-71% for C. diff. To further understand the effect of a specific combination of probiotic strains a further study was conducted at a hospital in where a low dose, high dose, and placebo where used on female and male patients within 30-70 years of age on antibiotic therapy treatments. Results of this study indicated that the incidence rate for C. diff in patients within the placebo group had a 4.8% and the lower and higher doses a 1.8%. In addition, the low dose group had a higher rate of AAD compared to the higher dose group. No significant difference between the low dose and placebo group was observed for AAD incidence. Duration of diarrhea in the placebo group was 5.4, in the high dose group 2.6 and the low dose group was 3.5 days. Bloating was reduced in the high dose group when compared to the placebo and the low dose group. The study demonstrated that a higher incidence rate of AAD was higher in older subjects. Furthermore, that the higher doses of treatment reduced the incidence rate from 24.6 to 12.5 percent. Abdominal pain and bloating was significantly reduced with the higher dosage of probiotics.2 (Probiotics reduce symptoms of antibiotic, …show more content…
The author indicates that 73% of individuals with intestinal resection and Crohn’s disease after 1 year are likely to have endoscopic recurrence. The other 44% develop severe lesions. The intestinal microbiota in people with Crohn’s is altered and deficient in Firmicutes, Clostridium, lactobacilli, and bifidobacterial groups. To examine the efficacy of Crohn’s disease recurrence after ileal resection different strains and combinations of probiotics were used in five different studies. Study using Lactobacillus GG demonstrated no significant difference on endoscopic postoperative recurrence after one year when compared to the placebo. Another study of a mixture of four lactobacilli and prebiotics after 2 years of an ileac resection was ineffective. However, the trial with VSL#3 did happen to show greater results in preventing endoscopic recurrence at one years due to its high number of viable bacteria and mixture of eight bacteria. Early administration of VSL#3 is believed to alter mucosal cytokine balance compared to the placebo group. However, individuals that started VSL#3 after 90 days of ileal resection has no significant difference compared to the placebo group. It is not known why individuals that received VSL#3 after 90 days had lower endoscopic recurrence rates. Researchers believe that the results could relate to the differences of genetic or phenotypic