Several strains of Lactobacillus genus have previously been assessed in patients with IBS in multiple randomized controlled trials, demonstrating the efficacy of these strains in reducing IBS-related symptoms such as abdominal pain, distension and flatulence. We hypothesize the L. plantarum UALp-05 strain to benefit research participants by reducing pain severity, normalizing diarrhea predominant stool type and subsequently improving quality of life (QOL) standards. The current study with L. plantarum UALp-05, will include a lower dose of 1 billion CFU/day (considered a low dose among probiotic IBS studies) and a higher dose of 10 billion CFU/ day (considered a mid-point dose among probiotic IBS studies) for a period of 8-weeks.Each probiotic dosage group will be assessed individually in comparison to placebo.
Several probiotic strains have shown beneficial outcomes in IBS patients, particularly among the Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium genera, Lactobacillus plantarum (recently reclassified as Lactiplantibacillus plantarum) is a frequently isolated species of the healthy human GI tract that has been studied in numerous GI clinical studies, including for IBS.In the present study, the efficacy and tolerability of L. plantarum (UALp-05TM), will be evaluated in individuals with IBS-D.