Irritable bowel syndrome and probiotics: from rationale to clinical use

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Few therapies are of proven efficacy in irritable bowel syndrome. Thus, there is great interest in the development of a natural therapy that can be both safe and effective. An understanding that probiotics are heterogeneous, with multiple targets and mechanisms of action, is fundamental to the development of clinical trials. RECENT FINDINGS: A bidirectional model for the pathogenesis of irritable bowel syndrome is proposed in …