30% of people suffer from diarrhea while taking antibiotics. How can they help each other?
One of the side effects of taking antibiotics is diarrhea. A meta-analysis of 63 clinical trials concluded that taking probiotics significantly reduced the occurrence of diarrhea as a side effect of antibiotic therapy.
Providing probiotics to the body in a disease requiring this treatment can reduce the risk of the unpleasant disorder by 42%, according to an article in the May 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association .
Antibiotics cause diarrhea in 30% of patients, which sabotages their treatment.
Probiotics play an important role in the recovery of the intestinal microflora during and after antibiotic therapy. Maintaining the balance between beneficial and opportunistic microorganisms in this environment ensures a healthy lower pH. The lower acidity is favorable for the development of non-pathogenic microorganisms, such as bifidobacteria and lactobacilli, which secrete specific antimicrobial substances and improve the body's immunity.
The meta-analysis included 82 randomized clinical trials, 57 of which used lactobacilli alone or in combination with other probiotics such as intravenous bifidobacteria in antibiotic therapy. In others, yeast is taken as a dietary supplement.
63 of these trials, involving a total of nearly 12,000 patients, documented a reduction in the risk of diarrhea due to probiotics in both children and adults. Finding a way to determine the individual risk of patients with diarrhea when taking antibiotics, given that it exists in only a fraction of patients, could make the use of probiotics a standard in the antibiotic treatment of certain diseases, as a mandatory supportive therapy, the researchers commented.