Update: Probiotics in inflammatory bowel disease
Researchers from the University of Otago Medical School in Dunedin, New Zealand summarize the state-of-the-art.
Here’s what we know.
- Laboratory and animal experiments support using probiotics in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
- Studies in humans have not provided definite evidence for probiotics in IBD.
- However, under certain conditions there is benefit.
- Pouchitis
-
Maintenance of remission in ulcerative colitis
- Conditions where probiotics appear ineffective.
- Crohn’s disease
- Active ulcerative colitis
The bottom line?
The authors think that the next 5 years, as newer studies are published, the role of probiotics in IBD will be defined.
3/6/09 21:09 JR