Can Probiotics Help?

How the Sheffield Trial was set up

To see what effect probiotics may have on IBS, researchers at the Sheffield School of Medicine led by Dr Elizabeth Williams took a group of 48 people diagnosed with IBS and supplemented half of them daily for eight weeks with a new probiotic containing 25 billion live bacteria per daily dose, whilst the other half took a dummy capsule. None of the participants knew if they were taking the probiotic or the dummy.

Can Probiotics help?

The following symptoms were assessed every two weeks during the eight week supplementation period and again at 10 weeks - two weeks after taking the probiotic. Total IBS Symptom Level (which is broken down into)

• Days with pain
• Level of abdominal pain
• Bloating
• Quality of life
• Satisfaction with bowel habit

What were the results of the Sheffield Trial?

The results which have been published in the prestigious ‘Journal Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics’* showed the following:

“The probiotic significantly reduced the Overall All Symptom Severity of IBS in all subjects compared to those taking the dummy capsule.”