Probiotics may shorten the duration of stomach problems--study

If consumed along with rehydration powders, the probiotic drinks can cut the duration of stomach upsets like diarrhoea by almost a day.

The 'friendly bacteria' which come in yogurt drinks or capsules, destroy bad bacteria residing in the stomach and guts of ill patients.

However, further research is required to ascertain the benefits of probiotics in treating stomach problems, believe researchers.

Lead researcher Stephen Allen of the School of Medicine at Swansea University, said, "There were no adverse effects, so these therapies can be used safely in addition to rehydration fluids. However, more research needs to be carried out on the specific strains of bacteria that are effective in treating diarrhoea and on preventing the progression from short-term to persistent diarrhoea."

8000 people studied
The study, aimed at determining the use of probiotic bacterial cultures in treating acute diarrhea, looked at 63 earlier trials involving more than 8000 people.

The studies involved both adults and children with acute diarrhea.

The participants were given either a specific probiotic or a placebo on a random basis for 2 weeks.

Factors like the effect of the probiotics on diarrhea, change in frequency or duration were taken into account by the researchers.

The study results
Use of probiotics reduced the duration of diarrhea by 24.76 hours in the participants, the study claimed.

Taking a probiotic also reduced the risk of having diarrhea which generally lasted for more than 4 days.

If consumed on a regular basis, probiotics were able to reduce stool frequency in the patients.

The participants taking probiotics were likely to have slightly fewer stools on the second day as compared to those in the control group (average difference 0.8 stools, 95 percent confidence interval 0.45 to 1.14 stools).

The results remained unaffected even when factors like the type of organism causing infection, diarrhoea severity, probiotic dose, strain or number of strains, study location or study quality were taken into consideration.

Allen said, "A striking finding of this review is that most trials reported that probiotics reduced diarrhoea.

"The beneficial effect was consistent and significant across many different types of trials," he said.

The review was conducted and published by the 'Cochrane Library.'