Treatment with the probiotic Lactobacillus acidophilus, may help reduce abdominal pain associated with irritable bowel syndrome.
In a study of lab rats induced with abdominal pain, the Lactobacillus treatment resulted in an increase in the number of receptors for naturally produced pain-killing substances on cells lining the intestine. The probiotic produced painkilling effects similar to that of morphine.
For those suffering from irritable bowel syndrome, using probiotics to modulate intestinal flora promises to be a safe and relatively inexpensive new treatment for abdominal pain.
SOURCE: Nature Medicine, online, December 2006.
During the last year, I have had the privilege of treating a person who emigrated from Russia and now is a citizen of the United States of America. She was a practicing medical physician and we were talking about antibiotic overuse in the U.S. She said that in Russia, if you gave an antibiotic without also prescribing Acidophilus or Bifidus to regrow the good bacteria the antibiotic also wiped out, that was considered tantamount to malpractice. Well, The Probiotics Revolution does not suggest that doctors be sued for not using probiotics with antibiotics, but I think it would be a worthy conversation. When on an antibiotic, please consider the great value that probiotics would give you in preventing further re-infection or predisposition to other infections.
God Bless,
Dr. Benzinger
