Probiotics Boost Efficacy of Peptic Ulcer Treatments

TAINAN, Taiwan—Consumption of yogurt enriched with probiotics improves the eradication rate of Helicobacter pylori in peptic ulcer patients undergoing quadruple therapy after failed triple therapy, according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (83, 4:864-69, 2006) (www.ajcn.org).

Researchers from National Cheng Kung University conducted a culture study on 138 patients who had not responded to triple therapy (treatment with two antibiotics and either an acid suppressor or stomach-lining shield). The patients were then randomized to receive four weeks of pretreatment with 400 mL/d Lactobacillus- and Bifidobacterium-rich yogurt plus one week of quadruple therapy (treatment with two antibiotics, an acid suppressor and a stomach-lining shield) or one week of quadruple therapy only. The researchers conducted a 13C-urea breath test to measure residual H. pylori population in both groups six weeks after quadruple therapy. In the yogurt-plusquadruple therapy group, the researchers conducted the 13C-urea breath test before and every two weeks during the four-week pretreatment with yogurt.

Patients in the yogurt-plus-quadruple therapy group showed significantly decreased values of the 13C-urea breath test after four weeks of pretreatment with yogurt. Overall, the yogurt-plus-quadruple therapy group had a higher H. pylori eradication rate than did the quadruple therapy-only group. The researchers concluded a four-week pretreatment with Lactobacillus- and Bifidobacterium-rich yogurt can decrease H. pylori loads despite antimicrobial resistance, thus improving the efficacy of quadruple therapy in eradicating residual H. pylori.

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