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Randomized trial · measured the question itself

8-week trial in 307 adults with diarrhea-type irritable bowel found lower symptom scores

Martoni and colleagues · World journal of gastroenterology · 2023

Original title: Efficacy and dose response of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum in diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Points to benefit

IBS symptom score fell by -128.45 ± 83.30 (1B) and -156.77 ± 99.06 (10B), vs -58.82 ± 74.75 with placebo (P < 0.001). Stool responders were 62.5% and 88.4% vs 26.3% with placebo.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
307 people · 307 adults aged 18-70 with IBS with diarrhea
What was tested
Lactiplantibacillus plantarum Lpla33 at 1 × 109 or 1 × 1010 CFU a day vs placebo for 8 weeks
What it measured
The question itself: gut symptoms such as bloating, pain and irregular bowels
Daily amount
1e+10 CFU a day
How long
8 weeks
Who has a stake
Company stake
Funded by Chr. Hansen A/S; three authors are its employees but were not involved in running the study or the statistics.
Journal
World journal of gastroenterology, 2023
Source
PubMed record 37576702. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Randomized: people were put into groups by chance, so the groups start out alike.
  • ✓Compared with a placebo, a dummy treatment.
  • ✓Large: 307 people.
  • –Short: 8 weeks. Longer-term effects are unknown.
  • ✓Measured the question itself: gut symptoms such as bloating, pain and irregular bowels.
  • –Company stake: Funded by Chr. Hansen A/S; three authors are its employees but were not involved in running the study or the statistics.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

Each dot is one on-topic paper on this question. Steps near the top answer the question more directly.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: gut symptoms such as bloating and IBS

    9

    5 benefit, 2 mixed, 2 no difference

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot
  2. Trials in people: other measures

    10

    4 benefit, 2 mixed, 4 no difference

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  4. Population studies

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Do probiotics improve gut health?”

Some strains may help some symptoms.

Confidence: low. Based on 28 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer

Of the other 8 papers on the same step: 4 benefit, 2 mixed, 2 no difference. This one found benefit.

Other papers on the same step

See all 28 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The reviewer corrected 1 field after reading the abstract. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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