The Use of Probiotics in the Treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a gastrointestinal disorder whose predominant symptoms are abdominal pain or discomfort, accompanied by diarrhea and/or constipation. A single pharmacological or non-pharmacological therapy proves to be ineffective. Probiotics are showing promise. This book discusses epidemiological and pathophysiological aspects and seeks to determine the efficacy of the use of probiotics in the treatment of IBS. A systematic review was carried out in Pubmed, Sciencedirect and Scopus, using the combined keywords Irritable bowel syndrome and probiotics. The search was carried out from August to October 2015 and 16 studies were eligible. The results showed that 81.2% of the articles had positive effects. Lactobacillus was responsible for 75% of these effects. A dosage of 4 to 5 x 109 bacteria twice a day and a study time of 4 weeks were most common. The results indicate that probiotics are a promising strategy, but more clinical trials are needed with an appropriate design, longer evaluation time, standardization in dosages and identification of the isolated and synergistic effects of the species used.