Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 18, 2026
Probiotic Studies in Neonatal Mice Using Gavage
Published on: January 27, 2019
Are probiotics or prebiotics useful in pediatric irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease?
1Section of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Department of Pediatrics, The University of Chicago , Chicago, IL , USA.
Insights
Probiotics and prebiotics offer promising, safer alternatives for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), especially in children. Specific probiotic strains show benefits for IBS abdominal pain and ulcerative colitis remission.
Area of Science:
- Gastroenterology and Microbiology
- Pediatric Gastroenterology
- Microbiome Research
Background:
- Current treatments for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) have limitations, driving interest in safer alternatives.
- Probiotics (beneficial microorganisms) and prebiotics (their metabolic fuel) are explored for their potential to modulate the gut microbiome.
- This review focuses on recent data regarding probiotics and prebiotics for IBS and IBD, with a special emphasis on pediatric populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide a concise update on the current data concerning the efficacy of probiotics and prebiotics in managing IBS and IBD.
- To specifically highlight findings related to their use in children.
- To assess the potential of these interventions as safer alternatives to conventional therapies.
Main Methods:
- Review of available data from clinical trials and meta-analyses on probiotics and prebiotics for IBS and IBD.
- Focus on studies involving pediatric populations.
- Analysis of outcomes related to symptom improvement and disease remission.
Main Results:
- Prebiotic data for IBS is limited; low doses show benefit, while high doses are counterproductive.
- Probiotics show encouraging results for IBS in children, with specific strains like Lactobacillus GG, Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938, and VSL#3 improving abdominal pain.
- Probiotics are most effective in IBS patients with diarrhea or post-infectious IBS.
- Prebiotic use in IBD is sparsely studied with mixed results.
- Probiotics have shown mixed outcomes in IBD; none are effective for Crohn's disease, but VSL#3 shows efficacy in inducing and maintaining remission in ulcerative colitis.
Conclusions:
- Probiotics and prebiotics represent a rapidly evolving and promising field for managing IBS and IBD.
- Specific probiotic strains demonstrate efficacy for certain IBS symptoms in children and for ulcerative colitis remission.
- Further research is needed to determine optimal strains and dosages for different clinical settings and patient populations.
Abstract:
Treatment options for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are notoriously either inadequate (IBS) or loaded with potentially serious side effects and risks (IBD). In recent years, a growing interest in effective and safer alternatives has focused on the potential role of probiotics and their metabolic substrates, prebiotics. It is in fact conceivable that the microbiome might be targeted by providing the metabolic fuel needed for the growth and expansion of beneficial microorganisms (prebiotics) or by administering to the host such microorganisms (probiotics). This review presents a concise update on currently available data, with a special emphasis on children. Data for prebiotics in IBS are scarce. Low doses have shown a beneficial effect, while high doses are counterproductive. On the contrary, several controlled trials of probiotics have yielded encouraging results. A meta-analysis including nine randomized clinical trials in children showed an improvement in abdominal pain for Lactobacillus GG, Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938, and the probiotic mixture VSL#3. The patients most benefiting from probiotics were those with predominant diarrhea or with a post-infectious IBS. In IBD, the use of prebiotics has been tested only rarely and in small scale clinical trials, with mixed results. As for probiotics, data in humans from about three dozens clinical trials offer mixed outcomes. So far, none of the tested probiotics has proven successful in Crohn's disease, while in ulcerative colitis a recent meta-analysis on 12 clinical trials (1 of them in children) showed efficacy for the probiotic mixture VSL#3 in contributing to induce and to maintain remission. It is evident that this is a rapidly evolving and promising field; more data are very likely to yield a better understanding on what strains should be used in different specific clinical settings and in what doses.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
01:17Irritable Bowel Syndrome I: Introduction
IBS is a chronic condition that can persist over a long period or recur frequently.
The pathogenesis of IBS involves a complex interplay of the following factors:
Altered...
01:22Probiotics
01:21Drugs for Treatment of Constipation-Predominant IBS
01:30Inflammatory Bowel Disease III: Diagnostic Studies and Management I-Nutritional Therapy
Diagnostic studies
A colonoscopy is the definitive screening test, distinguishing ulcerative colitis from other colon diseases with similar symptoms. During a colonoscopy test, inflamed mucosa with exudate ulcerations can be observed, and biopsies are taken to determine the histologic characteristics of the...
01:23Irritable Bowel Syndrome
01:30Irritable Bowel Syndrome III: Medical and Nursing Management