Ulcerative Colitis Patients Can Improve Remission Rates By Adding VSL#3 Probiotic To Traditional Therapies

Date: Jun-09-2012As one of the few probiotics with medical food designation for specific illnesses, VSL#3® has been the subject of a collection of more than 80 studies that have demonstrated its use in the dietary management of IBS, ulcerative colitis, and an ileal pouch. Ulcerative colitis patients, in particular, have been shown to benefit from adding VSL#3 medical food to their prescription drug regimen. One particular study shows that the combination of VSL#3 and traditional drug therapy can improve remission rates over drug therapy alone by 10 to 17 percent, and can initiate remission 47 to 69 percent faster. The 8-week study*, conducted in Rome, involved 90 patients who had newly diagnosed or recently relapsed mild-to-moderate UC and compared the effects of the combination of VSL#3 and balsalazine (Colazal®), an anti-inflammatory drug commonly prescribed for the treatment of ulcerative colitis, to the use of balsalazine alone and mesalazine (Canasa®) alone.

The trial results concluded that the use of low-dose balsalazide and VSL#3® was significantly superior (pdiarrhea, and severe abdominal discomfort.

According to Berry, VSL#3® stands apart from other probiotics since it is not a supplement, but a refrigerated medical food that consists of 8 strains of live, freeze-dried lactic acid bacteria. "It is one of the few probiotic preparations supported by Level 1 (double-blind, placebo-controlled) scientific data, and is the only probiotic recognized as an effective tool in the dietary management of ileal pouch by the American College of Gastroenterology1 and by the Cochrane Review2," says Berry.

View drug information on Canasa; Colazal.
Courtesy: Medical News Today Note: Any medical information available in this news section is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional.