A commercially available yogurt drink can reduce diarrhea and infection associated with use of antibiotics according to a study in the British Medical Journal.
Older adults who used a probiotic yogurt drink while they were taking antibiotics had 75 percent less diarrhea and no diarrhea associated with c. difficile infection than a similar group who drank a milkshake without active microorganisms. The two groups were randomized and double-blinded. Neither participants or nursing staff knew who was receiving what drink.
None of the patients in the study had diarrhea or bowel disease before beginning the study or were lactose intolerant.
Patients in three London hospitals began drinking Actimel® within 48 hours of starting antibiotic therapy and continued using it twice a day until a week after the antibiotics ended. A control group drank Yazoo®, a sterilized milkshake also commercially available in the United Kingdom.
During the study
- 12 percent of patients on Actimel developed diarrhea compared to 34 percent of those in the control group.
- No c. difficile was found in the stool of any of the Actimel group compared to 17 percent of controls who developed diarrhea associated with c. difficile infection.
Research dietician Mary Hickson and her team wrote,
Consumption of a probiotic drink containing L casei, L bulgaricus, and S thermophilus can reduce the incidence of antibiotic associated diarrhoea and C difficile associated diarrhoea. This has the potential to decrease morbidity, healthcare costs, and mortality if used routinely in patients aged over 50.
According to the World Health Organization, probiotics are living microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host . They contribute to maintaining a healthy balance of beneficial and harmful bacteria in the intestinal tract.
Actimel contains Lactobacillus casei, L casei imunitass, S thermophilus and L bulgaricus. The research team tested the drinks to be sure that the bacteria were live and active. It is marketed in the United States as DanActive®.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR PATIENTS
Although there was a large reduction in diarrhea associated with antibiotic use and no c. difficile infection at all in those patients who drank Activel during their antibiotic therapy, this preventive may not be appropriate for everyone.
- People with diarrhea or bowel disease were excluded from the study.
- The authors point out that they were unable to pinpoint which of the live microorganisms was responsible for the protection from diarrhea and infection so the information may not be valid for other yogurt or probiotic products.
- The drink prevented diarrhea. It was not used to treat it.
SOURCE: Hickson et. al. British Medical Journal, June 29,2007.
January 24, 2008 at 12:57 pm, Lloyd Reese said:
The design of your web page makes printing the primary information displayed difficult. After two tries, I used the Print Preview feature. I learned that I had to indicate page 4 in order to print
the primary information displayed in the center of the page. You might want to consider redesigning the page so its easier to print.
January 24, 2008 at 1:08 pm, Judi Sohn said:
Thanks, Lloyd. You’re absolutely right. The site is in the process of being redesigned, and in the new design we will have a “printable version” link on pages (hopefully) so you won’t run into this issue again. In the meantime, if you’d like to print the information I’d suggest copy/paste into a new document. We are aware that this is a temporary and not ideal solution, and we are hard at work on a better way to print information you find on our site.
Judi Sohn
C3 VP of Operations