Probiotic combination helps in the eradication of Helicobacter pylori
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25th May 2007
A combination of four probiotic bacteria reduced the adverse effects of the eradication of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and decreased the 13C-urea breath test values. H. pylori infection is a major cause of gastritis and peptic ulcer disease, and if untreated, increases the risk of stomach cancer.
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H. pylori eradication treatment with antibiotics may cause intestinal symptoms and abdominal pain. Eveliina Myllyluoma's doctoral dissertation investigated whether a combination of four probiotics can reduce the adverse effects of the H. pylori eradication treatment, improve the success of the treatment and impact the infection caused by H. pylori. One of the probiotics was Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG which is also used in Valio Gefilus® products. Ms Myllyluoma defended her dissertation at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Helsinki on 25th May 2007.
H. pylori usually causes an infection to some degree, even if the patient does not notice any specific symptoms. The symptoms are affected by the degree of severity of the infection caused by H. pylori and its location in the stomach. H. pylori can be detected for example from biopsies taken in gastroscopy or from a stool sample. H. pylori infection is usually treated with a combination of two antibiotics and an antacid.
Probiotic bacteria are microbes which may promote well-being when taken orally. Probiotics have been found to have beneficial effects on many intestinal disturbances and infections.
The combination of four probiotic bacteria comprising Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, L. rhamnosus LC705, Propionibacterium freudenreichii ssp. shermanii JS and Bifidobacterium breve Bb99 or B. lactis Bb12 was shown to reduce the adverse effects of eradication treatment. The adverse effects were followed during the eradication treatment and three weeks after the treatment in symptom diaries kept by the patients.
The researched probiotics except for L. rhamnosus GG did not adhere to the upper region of the digestive tract. In cell line experiments, the effects of probiotics were not dependent on the adherence of the bacteria either, and it may be that the effect of the combination is mainly based on adjusting the immune system.
In conclusion, the results show that the combination of four probiotic bacteria reduces the adverse effects caused by ordinary treatment of H. pylori, and may have a beneficial effect on H. pylori infection. The probiotic combination alone does not eradicate H. pylori, and the effects are presumably mediated without the probiotics adhering to the mucous membrane of the stomach.
The official opponent was Docent Asko Järvinen from the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases at the Helsinki University Central hospital, Finland, and the custos was Professor Esa Korpi from the Department of Pharmacology at the Institute of Biomedicine, University of Helsinki. The research supervisors were Professor Heikki Vapaatalo from the Department of Pharmacology at the Institute of Biomedicine, University of Helsinki and Professor Riitta Korpela from the Department of Pharmacology at the Institute of Biomedicine, University of Helsinki and Valio Ltd, R&D, Helsinki, Finland.
Further information: Eveliina Myllyluoma, PhD, Senior Scientist, Valio Ltd. R&D,E-mail: eveliina.myllyluoma@valio.fi, tel. +358 50 398 1167
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Eveliina Myllyluoma
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