Noor Bekkali , Marloes EJ Bongers , Maartje M Van den Berg , Olivia Liem and Marc A Benninga

Published 04 August 2007.

Background

Inconsistent data exist about the efficacy of probiotics in the treatment of constipation. Several studies in adults with constipation showed positive effects of probiotics on constipation. Inconsistent data exist regarding the effect of a single probiotic strain in constipated children. The aim of this pilot study was to determine the effect of a mixture of probiotics containing bifidobacteria and lactobacilli in the treatment of childhood constipation.

Methods

Children aged 4-16 years with constipation as defined by the Rome III criteria were eligible for the study. During a 4 week period, children received a daily mix of 4x10E9 colony forming units of a probiotic mixture (Ecologic(R) Relief) containing Bifidobacteria (B.) bifidum, B. infantis, B. longum, Lactobacilli (L.) casei, L. plantarum and L. rhamnosus. Primary outcome measures were frequency of bowel movements (BMs) per week and stool consistency. Secondary outcome measures were number of faecal incontinence episodes per week, abdominal pain and side effects.

Results

Twenty children, 50% male, median age 8 (range 4-16) were included. The frequency of BMs per week increased from 2.0 (1.0-5.0) to 4.2 (0.0-16.0) in week 2 (p=0.10) and 3.8 (2.1-7.0) in week 4 (p=0.13). In 12 children presenting with <3 BMs/ week, BMs per week increased significantly from 1.0 (0.0-2.0) to 3.0 (0.0-7.0) in week 2 (p=0.01) and 3.0 (0.0-10.0) in week 4 (p=0.01). The stool consistency was reported as hard in 7 children at baseline, in 4 children at week 2 (p=0.23) and in 6 children after 4 weeks of treatment (p=1.00). A significant decrease in number of faecal incontinence episodes per week was found in the entire group: 4.0 (0.0-35.0) to 1.5 (0.0-14.0) in week 2 (p=0.01) and 0.3 (0.0-7.0) in week 4 (p=0.001). The presence of abdominal pain decreased significantly from 45% to 25% in week 2 (p=0.04) and 20% at week 4 (p=0.006). No side effects were reported.

Conclusion

This pilot study shows that a mixture of probiotics, has positive effects on symptoms of constipation. To confirm these findings, a large randomised placebo controlled trial is required.

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© 2007 Bekkali et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Nutrition Journal 2007, 6:17     doi:10.1186/1475-2891-6-17