[Probiotic supplement (Lactobacillus acidophilus and bulgaricus) utility in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome].

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial looks at Probiotics.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a very common functional condition and a frequent cause of consultation in gastroenterology.

With a multifactorial pathophysiology IBS is characterized by abdominal pain, distension and altered bowel habits.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

Multicenter randomized placebo-controlled trial that included IBS patients, diagnosed with Rome III criteria.

The intensity of symptoms and the effect of therapy were evaluated with the Francis Score, before and after the treatment.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and multicenter.

Because people in this Probiotics study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

As a double-blind Probiotics study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Probiotics could be set against what happens without it.

Running at several centres spread the Probiotics study over different clinics and patient groups.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Combined Modality Therapy, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Morpholines, Parasympatholytics and Probiotics.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Probiotics.

Its findings take up roughly 3 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2014 (Revista de gastroenterologia del Peru : organo oficial de la Sociedad de Gastroenterologia del Peru), a journal based in Peru.

More context: all human trials.