A probiotic yogurt drink can stop diarrhea, doctors have discovered.
They gave a probiotic that contains Lactobacillus to a group of patients in hospital who were suffering from diarrhea after being given antibiotics – and it reduced the attacks by nearly 300 per cent.
They tested the drink on 135 hospital patients who were older than 50. Half were given the probiotic drink, while the rest had a ‘placebo’ milkshake. Each group took the drink twice a day.
Doctors started to see positive results among the probiotic group after just five drinks, and it took just one more to help treat diarrhea that was caused by an infection such as C.difficile.
Overall, the drinks cost the hospital $120, whereas standard drug treatment for diarrhea currently stands at around $3,700.
(Source: British Medical Journal, 2007, published online).
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