Gastroenterologist Questions Gastroenterologist

What is the best probiotic for IBS?

I am a 32 year old female. I was diagnosed with IBS. What is the best probiotic for IBS?

3 Answers

GastroenterologistGastroenterologist
This is tough to answer because there are so many bacterial strains that have been studied at different concentrations and combinations. Also, there are many low quality trials out there or no data at all for many probiotic formulations. My advice is to not spend a lot of money and don't continue to take anything that doesn't clearly relieve symptoms of IBS. Look at Table 1 in this article for some trials that showed efficacy for various probiotic formulations: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5848117/

This is from a recent review article that you can find on line for free:

More recent meta-analyses of probiotics suggest benefit in IBS patients for overall symptoms treated with B. infantis (5 RCTs), S. cerevisiae CNCM I-3856 (2 trials), single probiotics at relatively lower dosage of organisms (<1010 CFU/day) and shorter duration (<8weeks).58 A meta-analysis of 15 trials that included 1793 patients showed improvement of general symptoms (7 trials), and of pain, distension, bloating, and flatulence each in 2 to 3 trials. With most trials of probiotics, few were of high methodological quality, and combining data from different probiotic species, strains, or combinations may not be valid.

From: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6314474/

Any FDA approved probiotics will work well.
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You have several choices for probiotics. Natural sources like plain greek yogurt, kefir, fermented vegetables like pickles or Sauerkraut are few of the examples. You can also buy Probiotic as dietary supplements. Some of the brands to try include Florastor, Align, Floragen etc. You may have to try a couple of the brands to find the best fit for you. Make sure to read the label as lot of them need to be refrigerated to maintain potency.


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