Probiotic Drink Helps Prevent Diarrhea from Antibiotics

Probiotic Drink Helps Prevent Diarrhea from Antibiotics

A persistent and alarming problem among elderly hospital patients is diarrhea -- which is sometimes even life-threatening. A frequent cause, ironically, is the antibiotic used to address either the original illness or an infection that develops during the hospital stay, to which elderly patients are even more vulnerable than others. It is a frustrating situation for everyone involved.

A recent study conducted at Imperial College in London investigated probiotic drinks as a way to help resolve the problem, in much the same way some non-hospital patients eat yogurt when on antibiotics. (Note: This should be high-quality yogurt with live cultures.) The study randomized 135 hospitalized elderly patients on antibiotics into two groups. Twice a day during the course of treatment and for one week after finishing the antibiotics, one group was given a dairy drink containing three types of probiotics -- Lactobacillus casei, L. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus -- while the other had a dairy drink with no probiotics. The probiotic drink used in the study was Actimel, sold in US supermarkets as DanActive from Danone, which partially funded the study.
The result: Risk of diarrhea relating to antibiotics was reduced by 21.6%.

WHICH PROBIOTIC FOR WHOM?
Probiotic use appears to be a no-brainer, but the picture is more complicated than it may seem. Lead author Mary Hickson, PhD, RD, a research dietician and honorary senior lecturer of investigative science at the Imperial College in London, told me the issue of using probiotics as standard hospital protocol is still open. The reason is, dose and timing cannot be as carefully controlled in a hospital setting as in a highly monitored research study. Probiotics may actually turn out to be even more useful than this research indicates, since some high-risk patients had to be excluded. Also, since the treatment did not prevent all diarrhea, it may be that different patients respond to probiotic bacteria differently. In other words, what is effective in certain situations for some individuals does not work all the time. Indeed, another strain of bacteria might work even better at preventing antibiotic-caused diarrhea than the ones in the drink used, and only further research will reveal the answer.

In this study there were no adverse events for patients, which has been true of previous published trials using probiotics -- though some questions remain relative to people with weak immune systems. In a very few cases, probiotic bacteria may have caused an infection in such patients, says Dr. Hickson, though it remains inconclusive. According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), the safety of probiotics has not been thoroughly studied so research should continue, especially in the elderly, children and anyone with a compromised immune system.

Next steps for the medical community? Dr. Hickson says that another study is now in order to see if using probiotics as a standard measure for post-antibiotic treatment causes diarrhea rates to fall in a broader hospital population. Next step for individuals? Based on years of work with probiotics, Daily Health News contributing editor Andrew L. Rubman, ND, points out that since each of us is unique, results may vary. While probiotic products will probably not be harmful, the same solution won't work for everyone. Consider working with a physician knowledgeable in this area.
Source(s): Mary Hickson, PhD, RD, honorary senior lecturer of investigative science at the Imperial College in London.