Can a specific precision prebiotic help people with IBS?
Prebiotics: what they are, their potentials and their limits
Several factors can alter the qualitative and quantitative composition of the intestinal microbiota (dysbiosis), such as dietary variations, gastroenteritis, intestinal pathologies, dyspepsia, inflammatory bowel disease and antibiotic treatments. This bacterial alteration can lead to a wide range of symptoms such as borborygmi, abdominal distension, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, and pain.
Among the possible interventions, prebiotics can be a useful strategy.
But what are prebiotics? Prebiotics are substances that promote the growth of beneficial microbes in the gut. For instance, dietary fibers that nourish intestinal good bacteria so much so that they confer a health benefit to the host.
In a nutshell, prebiotics are micro-food for your microbiota.
Moreover, prebiotics often turn out to be “handier” to use than living probiotic bacteria, since the latter are often very sensitive to heat and moisture and therefore must be kept refrigerated during storage and transportation to remain alive and vital and finally be beneficial to the host.
On the other hand, the major limitation to the use of prebiotics is that, commonly, prebiotic supplements have a non-specific action and can feed the intestinal bacteria in an unbalanced way.
Actually, bacteria from different genus eat fibers of different types so ingesting a certain kind of fibers can promote the overgrowth of certain genera of bacteria selectively, sometimes resulting in an even worse dysbiosis and triggering further gut discomforts.
The patented formulation of Fibradis®
What makes Fibradis® different from most common prebiotics is its patented formulation that contains a blend of bifidogenic and lactogenic fibers in 9 to 1 ratio designed to feed bacteria genus-specifically in order to promote the proliferation and colonization of bifidobacteria and lactobacilli in gut physiological proportions.
Thanks to its balanced content, taking Fibradis® allows to re-establish the ideal proportions among bifidobacteria and lactobacilli within the gut microbiota. This makes Fibradis® a precision prebiotic that can provide the appropriate energy substrates with high bacterial affinity.
The rationale behind the formulation of Fibradis® has been validated by a clinical study involving IBS patients who, taking this prebiotic supplement, were able to obtain a significant reduction in meteorism and flatulence scores, as well as an improvement in intestinal function.
The resolution of IBS residual symptoms
In the clinical study Specific prebiotic composition for precision bacterial therapy in patients with irritable bowel syndrome, the efficacy of the first precision prebiotic, the effectiveness of Fibradis® was evaluated in subjects with IBS who already received treatments for their issue but still suffered from residual symptoms.
The clinical study involved 24 patients with residual symptoms such as:
- Meteorism
- Flatulence
- Alternating bowel habits
- Constipation
- Diarrhea.
All patients were treated with 1 sachet of Fibradis® per day for 14 days, before breakfast.
The main purpose was to assess the variation in mentioned symptoms between the beginning and the end of the precision prebiotic therapy.
At the end of the study, Fibradis® showed a statistically significant reduction of all residual symptoms, reaching a 100% reduction in diarrhea and alternating bowel habits; 63% constipation and 75% meteorism and flatulence.
This meant that Fibradis® is really a precision prebiotic formulation that can help people with IBS.
