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Health News Archive 90 - Ulcerative Colitis
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• Probiotics Reduce Ulcerative Colitis Symptoms
• Probiotics Implicated in Ulcerative Colitis Remission
• Probiotic Reduces Ulcerative Colitis Relapse

Probiotics Reduce Ulcerative Colitis Symptoms

Probiotics may be helpful in ulcerative colitis. Taking a mixture of several probiotic bacteria reduces symptoms in patients with ulcerative colitis that do not respond to conventional medications. The probiotic mixture contained four strains of Lactobacillus, three strains of Bifidobacterium and one strain of Streptococcus salivarius -- all well-known species of good bacteria.

Researchers from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada enrolled 34 patients with active ulcerative colitis who were treated with the probiotic mixture twice daily for 6 weeks. A variety of standard treatments had been tried on the patients first, with no help.

Remission occurred in 53 percent of the patients and an additional 24 percent experienced some degree of improvement in symptoms. A few patients experienced no improvement or worsening of their symptoms. The only apparent side effect from the probiotic mixture was increased bloating. Testing of sampled colonic tissue provided direct evidence that the probiotic bacteria had, in fact, reached the diseased sites of the colon.

SOURCE: American Journal of Gastroenterology, July 2005.