Beyond reviewing diet, I highly recommend starting with probiotics as a first line treatment for IBS. Some may suggest trying food elimination and reintroduction diets first to find out food sensitives and remove offending foods from the diet. However, probiotics may increase tolerance to foods. Food tolerance may also be improved with medication, in addition to probiotics, if needed. It is important to increase food tolerance since IBS is helped by having as wide and as minimally restrictive a diet as possible. Eating a variety of healthy foods increases bacterial diversity, which helps to guard against IBS symptoms. Elimination and reintroduction diets such as the FODMAP diet, have their place. The diet can be used after trying probiotics and medication (if needed) once symptoms have settled a little, to uncover any remaining food intolerances, which, hopefully, should be fewer.
There are so many probiotic products on the market, which can lead to confusion as to what to buy. Some people try certain probiotic products, don’t get any benefit from them and say that they are not worth while in their case. However, not all probiotics are the same and not all bacterial strains are helpful for IBS. I have tried many probiotics over the years and Alflorex worked best for me and it has been scientifically studied for IBS. I came to this decision after reviewing a vast amount of information available on the internet regarding probiotics. This information is contained in the sections below to guide other sufferers to enable them to make their own choices.
It is to be noted that one person’s microbiome is going to be different to another’s, so it might be worth trialling a number of probiotics separately over a 3 month period to find what works the best. Many people will have a gut bacterial imbalance and may be helped by probiotics. However, since IBS is still under research probiotics (even after trying a variety) may not work for all.
Table of Contents
Bacterial Strains Studied for IBS
Bacterial Strain Functions
Commercial Probiotic Products Tested
Commercial Probiotic Products Researched
Spore Based Probiotics
Probiotic Dosage
Histamine Sensitivity & Probiotics
How to Take Probiotics
Probiotic Side Effects
Rebuilding Gut Flora After Antibiotics
IBS Researcher 