By David Liu, PHD

Friday Aug 31, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Asieh Hosseini of Razi Institute for Drug Research in Tehran, Iran and colleagues reviewed the efficacy of probiotics in treating irritable bowel syndrome and found probiotics help fight the digestive system disorder for sure.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a commonly seen chronic gastrointestinal (GI) tract disease causing significant disability and financial burden to health service. Multiple treatment options are available, but the functional recovery is still poor, according to the reviewers.

Many studies have demonstrated beneficial effects in some patients with irritable bowel syndrome.  Although most studies were heterogenic in terms of dosage, probiotic species used and clinical endpoints, recent meta-analyses have shown benefits of probiotics in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.

Studies have revealed that probiotics protect against irritable bowel syndrome through a number of mechanisms including "inhibition of binding of pathogenic bacteria to intestinal epithelial cells, enhancing barrier function of intestinal epithelial, acidification of the colon, suppression of the growth of pathogens, modulation of immunity, inhibition of visceral hypersensitivity, alteration in mucosal response to stress, and improvement of bowel."

The most commonly used probiotics included Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, the authors found.

The authors concluded that "Expert opinion: Although further studies are still needed, current evidences are almost enough to convince experts that probiotics are efficient in the treatment of IBS (irritable bowel syndrome)."

The study was published in Expert Opinion on Biological Therapy.