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Randomized trial · measured the question itself

12-week trial in 200 adults with diarrhea-type irritable bowel found better symptom scores

Srivastava and colleagues · Gut microbes · 2024

Original title: A randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of live Bifidobacterium longum CECT 7347 (ES1) and heat-treated Bifidobacterium longum CECT 7347 (HT-ES1) in participants with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome.

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What the study found

Points to benefit

IBS symptom score fell by -173.70 [±75.60] with live ES1 and -177.60 [±79.32] with heat-treated HT-ES1, vs -60.44 [±65.5] with placebo (p < .0001 for both). Stool consistency and belly pain also improved.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
200 people · 200 adults with IBS with diarrhea
What was tested
Two capsules a day of live Bifidobacterium longum CECT 7347 (ES1), or the same strain heat-killed (HT-ES1), vs placebo for 84 days
What it measured
The question itself: gut symptoms such as bloating, pain and irregular bowels
How long
12 weeks
Who has a stake
Company stake
Funded by ADM; three authors are ADM employees but were not involved in running the study or the statistics.
Journal
Gut microbes, 2024
Source
PubMed record 38630015. 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.
  • •Medium size: 200 people.
  • •Lasted 12 weeks.
  • ✓Measured the question itself: gut symptoms such as bloating, pain and irregular bowels.
  • –Company stake: Funded by ADM; three authors are ADM 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 two reads agreed on every checked field. 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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