The probiotic Saccharomyces boulardii is beneficial and safe for use in children with acute diarrhea, says a new study in the journal Pediatrics. In a review of 22 published articles, the authors found that S. boulardii significantly decreased the duration of diarrhea (mean difference [MD], −19.7 hours; 95% confidence interval [CI], −26.05–−13.34), stool frequency on day two (MD, −0.74; 95% CI, −1.38–−0.10) and day three (MD, −1.24; 95% CI, −2.13–−0.35), the risk for diarrhea on day three (risk ratio [RR], 0.41; 95% CI, 0.27–0.60) and day 4 (RR, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.24–0.59) after intervention vs. control. S. boulardii is a nonpathogenic tropical strain of yeast that is sold as a dietary supplement.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The efficacy of Saccharomyces boulardii for treatment of childhood diarrhea remains unclear. METHODS: Our data sources included Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, and The Cochrane Library up to September 2013 without language restrictions. boulardii significantly reduced …
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