This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Symbiotic mixture reduced flatulence severity in patients with IBS
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Patients with IBS treated with a symbiotic mixture experienced a decrease in the severity of flatulence symptoms, with no adverse events, in a recent study.
In a double blind, randomized trial, 64 patients with IBS were assigned either 5 g symbiotic mixture Probinul (CaDi Group, Rome) (n=32) or placebo (n=32) twice a day for 4 weeks after a 2-week run-in period, during which participants recorded their daily symptoms. All patients scored 24 or more on a 100-mm visual analog scale for average daily abdominal bloating or flatulence.
Response was defined as global satisfactory relief during half or more treatment weeks of abdominal bloating and flatulence symptoms. Change in pain, fecal urgency, stool frequency and bowel functions also were recorded, along with colonic transit time and quality of life before and after treatment.
Abdominal bloating response occurred in 46.9% of the treated group compared with 65.6% of the placebo group (P=.21). Response for flatulence symptoms occurred in 50% of the treated group; 62.5% of the placebo group (P=.45), but treated patients reported lower flatulence scores each week during treatment than placebo patients (P=.038).
Patients assigned Probinul had a longer rectosigmoid transit time than placebo patients, which was considered borderline statistically significant (mean 14.3 ± 2.5 h compared with 8.9 ± 1.9 h, P=.06). Investigators observed a significant Spearman correlation between total transit time and stool consistency during run-in (Rs=–0.37, P=.003) and treatment (Rs=–0.32, P=.02). No significant difference was observed between groups in changes to bowel function, quality of life, or bloating, pain or urgency symptoms. No adverse events were reported for either group.
“This is the first randomized, double blinded, placebo-controlled study investigating this particular commercially available symbiotic mixture in patients with IBS,” the researchers wrote. “Our results demonstrated a significant beneficial effect of the symbiotic mixture in decreasing the severity of flatulence in IBS patients.
“The mixture … showed a lack of any adverse events and a good side-effect profile. Further studies on a larger number of patients are indeed needed to confirm whether this symbiotic mixture might be an effective treatment option in IBS.”
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts