Probiotics and respiratory and gastrointestinal tract infections in Finnish military conscripts - a randomised placebo-controlled double-blinded study

Probiotics and respiratory and gastrointestinal tract infections in Finnish military conscripts - a randomised placebo-controlled double-blinded study

Military conscripts are susceptible to respiratory and gastrointestinal tract infections. In previous studies probiotics have shown potency to reduce upper respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. The aim was to study whether probiotic intervention has an impact on seasonal occurrence of upper r...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Beneficial microbes Vol. 7; no. 4; p. 463
Main Authors: Kalima, K, Lehtoranta, L, He, L, Pitkäniemi, J, Lundell, R, Julkunen, I, Roivainen, M, Närkiö, M, Mäkelä, M J, Siitonen, S, Korpela, R, Pitkäranta, A
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Netherlands 01-09-2016
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Asthma - therapy
Bifidobacterium animalis
Double-Blind Method
Finland
Gastrointestinal Diseases - therapy
Humans
Lactobacillus rhamnosus
Male
Military Personnel
Probiotics - therapeutic use
Respiratory Tract Infections - therapy
Young Adult
Bifidobacterium
military medicine
Lactobacillus
Online Access:Get more information
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Military conscripts are susceptible to respiratory and gastrointestinal tract infections. In previous studies probiotics have shown potency to reduce upper respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. The aim was to study whether probiotic intervention has an impact on seasonal occurrence of upper respiratory and gastrointestinal infections in two different conscript groups. In a randomised, double-blinded, placebo controlled study (https://clinicaltrials.gov NCT01651195), a total of 983 healthy adults were enrolled from two intakes of conscripts. Conscripts were randomised to receive either a probiotic combination of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) and Bifidobacterium animalis ssp. lactis BB12 (BB12) or a control chewing tablet twice daily for 150 days (recruits) or for 90 days (reserve officer candidates). Clinical examinations were carried out and daily symptom diaries were collected. Outcome measures were the number of days with respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms and symptom incidence, number and duration of infection episodes, number of antibiotic treatments received and number of days out of service because of the infection. Statistically no significant differences were found between the intervention groups either in the risk of symptom incidence or duration. However, probiotic intervention was associated with reduction of specific respiratory infection symptoms in military recruits, but not in reserve officer candidates. Probiotics did not significantly reduce overall respiratory and gastrointestinal infection morbidity.
ISSN:1876-2891
DOI:10.3920/BM2015.0172