title: Effect of probiotics on symptoms in korean adults with irritable bowel syndrome.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a troublesome disease. Some strains of probiotics reportedly exert remarkable immunomodulatory effects, and so we designed a prospective double-blind randomized placebo-controlled clinical study to assess their effects in Korean adults with IBS.
  
  
  METHODS
  IBS patients who met Rome III criteria were randomly assigned to receive composite probiotics or placebo. A total of 20 billion lyophilized bacteria were administered twice daily for 8 weeks. Primary outcome variables were symptom scores consisting of abdominal pain, flatulence, defecation discomfort, and sum of symptom scores. A visual analogue scale was used to quantify the severity. Secondary outcome variables consisted of the quality of life and bowel habits including defecation frequency and stool form.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty-six and 34 patients were randomized to the probiotics and placebo groups, respectively. Intention-to-treat analysis showed significant reductions in pain after 8 weeks of treatment: -31.9 and -17.7 in the probiotics and placebo groups, respectively (p=0.045). The reductions in abdominal pain, defecation discomfort, and sum of scores were more significant in 58 patients with a score of at least 3 on the baseline stool-form scale.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Composite probiotics containing Bifidobacterium bifidum BGN4, Lactobacillus acidophilus AD031, and other species are safe and effective, especially in patients who excrete normal or loose stools.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Kyoung Sup
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Hyoun Woo
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Jong Pil
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Im
authors.forename: Geun Eog
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: Sang Gyun
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hyun Chae
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: In Sung
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Joo Sung
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Kim