Healthy Living – Green Patriot

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn.—Physicians from the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Mayo Clinic conducted a clinical case study to determine whether using a multispecies probiotic could minimize the symptoms of patients with irritabl…e bowel syndrome (IBS). IBS is estimated to affect 20 to 30 percent of the population with 30 to 50 percent of gastroenterology referrals related to IBS symptoms. Researchers evaluated 25 patients with IBS as defined by Rome III criteria over a period of 60 days. Patients were treated with a multispecies probiotic product (Multi-Flora Plus) containing Lactobacillus acidophilus (as DDS®-1 strain, from UAS Labs), Bifidobacterium longum, Bifidobacterium bifidum and Bifidobacterium lactis with a combined potency of 12 billion CFU/g. Patients’ symptom severity was evaluated on a scale of 1 to 10. Improvement was classified with at least 50 percent reduction in severity. The most significant improvements occurred after 60 days of treatment with 84 percent of the patients showing improvement in abdominal pain, 73.9 percent in bloating, 92 percent in belching, 88 percent in flatulence, 90.9 percent in diarrhea and 86.9 percent in constipation. No clinically evident side effects were observed.