title: Evaluation of the potential inhibitory activity of a combination of L. acidophilus, L. rhamnosus and L. sporogenes on Helicobacter pylori: A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether three strains of probiotics, L. acidophilus, L. rhamnosus, and L. sporogenes, had signifificant inhibitive effects on Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori).
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a 4-week, randomly assigned, parallel-group, doubled-blind, and placebo-controlled study. Fifty patients with a positive H. pylori infection urea breath test (△UBT) result > 10% and without ulcer symptoms were randomized into a treatment group and a placebo group by a computer generated allocation sheet with 1:1. These subjects took one capsule of probiotics or placebo twice daily. The primary measurement was the change in △UBT values.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The △UBT values during the 4-week treatment period and the 2-week follow-up period were not signifificantly different between the treatment group and the placebo group, indicating that the inhibitive effects on H. pylori were comparable between both groups. The monocyte count (%) was 5.77±1.11 in the treatment group versus 5.09±1.12 in the placebo group (P=0.044), and the basophile count was 0.55±0.32 in the treatment group versus 0.36±0.23 in the placebo group (P=0.024) at week 2 of the treatment period, both of which reached statistical signifificance. The monocyte count was 5.75±1.26 in the treatment group and 4.72±0.99 in the placebo group at the end of the follow-up period (P=0.003).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There was no signifificant inhibitive effects of the three probiotic strains (L. acidophilus, L. rhamnosus, and L. sporogenes) on H. pylori. Probiotics can not play the same role as antibiotics in the eradication of H. pylori, the role of probiotics is likely to be important as adjuvant to the triple or quadruple therapy for H. pylori, especially in resistance cases.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, 40201, China.|Department of Pharmacy, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, 40201, China.|Department of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, China.
authors.forename: Chien-Ying
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, China.
authors.forename: Hung-Che
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Shih
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, 40201, China.
authors.forename: Min-Chien
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics and Informatics Science, Providence University, China, 43301, China.
authors.forename: Ming-Yung
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, 40201, China.|Department of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, China.
authors.forename: Ya-Lan
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Cosmetology, National Tainan Junior College of Nursing, Taiwan, 700, China.
authors.forename: Ya-Yun
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, 40201, China.|Department of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, China.
authors.forename: Yi-Ching
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, 40201, China.|Department of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, China.
authors.forename: Yu-Hsiang
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Kuan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, 40201, China. forest65@ms8.hinet.net.|Department of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, China. forest65@ms8.hinet.net.|Division of Hepatogastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, 40201, China. forest65@ms8.hinet.net.
authors.forename: Chun-Che
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001944:Breath Tests; D003710:Demography; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D023381:Endpoint Determination; D005260:Female; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019936:Probiotics / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014508:Urea / Q000032:analysis; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014508:Urea
keywords: Helicobacter pylori; probiotics; randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial; urea breath test