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The following discussion is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or

treat any disease. Please do not apply any of this information

without first speaking with your doctor. Now, let's head to the show. Hey everyone, welcome back. Let's

discuss a very interesting study that assessed the effectiveness of probiotics versus the effectiveness

of various medications in the treatment of IBS, irritable bowel

syndrome. So if you're someone who experiences gas, bloating abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation,

or perhaps an oscillation between the two, this is a study that you should know about because

it helps inform do you use probiotics and perhaps which ones or may

you want to use drug therapy. So let's unpack this study, which was a phenomenal study. Let's just

cruise over to the page here in PubMed. Published in Beneficial Microbes, a meta-analysis, meaning a study of studies, in this case,

researchers painstakingly analyzed 32 randomized controlled trials.

And here's our conclusion, and then we'll unpack further this comparison between

probiotics and medications for IBS.

Our meta-analysis indicated that both probiotic and drug interventions are able to improve

the persistent symptoms of IBS.

So at a high level, this tells us that either can work.

But let's break down the comparison.

Probiotics were found effective for IBS symptoms globally and also for abdominal pain.

Conversely, drug therapy was helpful for IBS symptoms, abdominal pain, and bloating.

...