Probiotic Yogurt Drinks Reduce Diarrhea

Drinks containing probiotics can help reduce diarrhea among older people taking antibiotics, according to a British study.

Imperial College researchers at Hammersmith Hospital, in London, say between 5 percent and 25 percent of patients experience diarrhea as a complication of treatment with antibiotics.

In a randomized double-blind placebo controlled trial, 135 people from three London hospitals all over the age of 50 were split randomly into two groups. One group was given a commercially available probiotic yogurt drink while the other received a sterile milkshake. Neither group knew which drink they received.

Drinks were given twice a day, within 48 hours of the starting antibiotic therapy, and continued for one week after the antibiotics were stopped. The people were contacted for follow-up four weeks later.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal Online First, showed 12 percent of those taking probiotic drinks developed antibiotic-associated diarrhea, compared with 34 percent of the control group.