The use of probiotics in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome
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Citation
Abstract
Recent research has highlighted the connection between dysbiosis of the gut microbiome
and its role in the development of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Over the last few years,
probiotics have grown in popularity as a potential treatment option in IBS. However, most
current probiotic studies are limited due to small study populations, older median age, and short
study time duration. The proposed study will be a multicenter, randomized, double-blinded
placebo controlled study comparing the multi-strain probiotic Bifidobacterium infantis,
Bifidobacterium bifidum, Bifidobacterium breve, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus
acidophilus, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, and Escherichia coli DSM17252 to placebo in patients
diagnosed with IBS based on Rome IV criteria over a 3-months duration. The study participants
will have a baseline evaluation and a final evaluation at the end of the 3-months duration. The
primary outcome will be the IBS Symptom Severity Score and the secondary outcomes will the
individual components of the IBS Symptom Severity Score. The results of this study will begin
to fill gaps in the current knowledge of the use of probiotics in the treatment of IBS.