A small clinical trial suggests that adding probiotics to standard therapies could help reduce fatigue, depression, and disability in individuals with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Patients often face debilitating fatigue and elevated levels of disability, and the preliminary findings indicate that probiotics may alleviate these symptoms while enhancing quality of life.
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Probiotics, which are live microorganisms designed to support health, were administered to study participants alongside their usual treatment. Compared to those receiving standard therapy alone, participants who took probiotics for three months displayed diminished levels of the inflammatory marker IL-6 and increased levels of the anti-inflammatory marker IL-10.
The study, titled "Probiotics as a promising adjunct: associations with fatigue, quality of life, disability, mood, and inflammatory markers in Egyptian patients with relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis," was published in The Egyptian Journal of Neurology, Psychiatry and Neurosurgery. Researchers observed that adjunctive probiotic use correlated with favorable changes in fatigue, quality of life, depressive symptoms, disability, and inflammatory markers. They emphasized that further large-scale clinical trials are necessary to validate these initial observations and explore optimal probiotic strains.
Conducted in Egypt, the study involved 60 adults who had stabilized on disease-modifying therapy for at least a year. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either probiotics or continue with their standard treatment alone. The probiotic group consumed two cups of commercial yogurt containing various bacterial strains, such as Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, along with a daily yeast tablet of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Results indicated a significant drop in fatigue scores in the probiotic group, while the control group saw minimal changes. Furthermore, improvements were noted across physical, cognitive, and psychosocial fatigue components. Additionally, disability and depression scores diminished in the probiotic group, in contrast to slight increases in the controls. Quality of life metrics showed positive changes across all assessed domains, including physical functioning and mental health.
Despite these promising findings, the trial's open-label design and lack of placebo control limit definitive conclusions about the effectiveness of probiotics. The combination of probiotic yogurt and yeast also complicates the determination of which element influenced the results. Importantly, the study did not investigate the gut microbiome's composition or function, leaving a gap in confirming whether the treatment influenced gut microbes.
Researchers cautioned that these findings should be considered preliminary and not indicative of conclusive clinical efficacy or definitive changes in the gut microbiome.