New Clinical Study Shows Probiotic Blend Reduces IBS Symptoms

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is one of the most unsettling syndromes that you may deal with on a daily basis.  For many years there have been very few options that truly worked for helping minimize the symptoms. Initially, people went for diets low in fiber. The problem with that is that fiber is a very important part of a daily diet plan and not having any will create an entirely separate set of problems. However, new studies have been done on how you can use probiotic supplements to reduce the symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Statistical facts on IBS

• 20 to 30 percent of all people have some degree of Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
• 30 to 50 percent of all referrals to gastroenterologists end up being linked to IBS to some degree.
• Western civilizations have a higher rate of women who develop IBS.  That rate is 2-3 times higher than in other cultures.

Some of the most common causes of Irritable Bowel Syndrome
There are several factors that have been found to increase the chances of a person being diagnosed with IBS.  These include, but are not limited to:

• Intolerance for certain foods
• Intestinal microflora that is imbalanced (microflora is microscopic plants like bacteria)
• Malfermentation of the colon (malfermentation has to do with the amount of bacteria in your gut)

These discoveries were made through prescribing antibiotics to people for other issues besides their IBS.  When the people were talking the antibiotics the IBS symptoms decreased.

The Research
Twenty-five people with IBS were evaluated over a 60 day period. They were given a multispecies probiotic (five different species in all) and asked to evaluate its effectiveness at the end of the 60 days.  The ratings were on a scale of one to ten. The following were the most significant improvements that occurred with just 60 days worth of treatments:

• 84% of all patients showed improvement with abdominal pain.
• 73.9% had less bloating.
• 92% had decreased belching.
• 88% noticed less flatulence.
• 90.9% substantially reduced diarrhea.
• 86.9% had considerably less constipation.

All of these results happened with no noted side effects from the patients.

The Conclusion of the Study
Overall, the study showed that probiotics have the potential to greatly reduce the symptoms of IBS in a large majority of people. Probiotic bacteria helps keep the pathogenic bacteria that is found in our bowels balanced and in check.

The Source of the Study
These results are based off of a study that was conducted by the Mayo Clinic in cooperation with the USD medical school.  The findings have been submitted for publication and review.