there are some data comparing directly antibiotics to probiotics. So from a 2010 clinical trial,

looking at 50 patients with SIBO, they were given either the antibiotic metronidazole or a probiotic,

and this was a blend of bifro bacterium and lactobacillus, like we discussed, after five days, the symptomatic improvement in those

given the probiotic was 82%. And in those on the antibiotic, it was 52%.

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For weekly updates, visit Dr. Russo.com. The first study here that I found compelling was a meta-analysis of 43

randomized control trials, and they found that using probiotics for IBS symptoms was best when done for two to three months as compared to doing it for a shorter duration.

Now, the IBS symptoms, you probably know these, but gas, bloating abdominal pain, and then all through bowel function, whether it's diarrhea, constipation, or a mixture of the two.

The paper that really perked me up was this one.

It was a randomized control trial in constipated patients.

They gave half of the individuals a placebo and the other half a probiotic. They tracked their constipation daily for 90 days, three months. And what this graph is showing you is that there was not a difference in the effect until day 60. And then at day 60, patients with constipation started to have improvements in their bowels.

So this tells me that for constipation, two months or longer might be better.

Now, why might this be?

It could be that there's either dysbiosis or potentially methane, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth,

and it's taking a certain time to clear or reduce that overgrowth,

thus stopping the cause of the constipation.

And there are data showing, thankfully, that probiotics alone can remedy and eliminate

methane-type small intestinal bacteria overgrowth,

and also other trials finding that probiotics

are efficacious for constipation.

So, again, perhaps what we're seeing

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