<i>Lactobacillus acidophilus</i> LB: a useful pharmabiotic for the treatment of digestive disorders
J.M. Remes-Troche, Enrique Coss-Adame, Miguel Ángel Valdovinos-Díaz, Octavio Gómez-Escudero, María Eugenia Icaza-Chávez, J.A. Chávez-Barrera, Flora Zárate‐Mondragón, J.A. Velarde-Ruiz Velasco, Guillermo Rafael Aceves-Tavares, Marco Antonio Lira-Pedrín, Eduardo Cerda-Contreras, Ramón Isaías Carmona-Sánchez, Héctor Guerra López, Rodolfo Solana Ortiz
Abstract
Dysbiosis, a loss of balance between resident bacterial communities and their host, is associated with multiple diseases, including inflammatory bowel diseases (nonspecific chronic ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease), and digestive functional disorders. Probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotic organisms and, more recently, pharmabiotics, have been shown to modulate the human microbiota. In this review, we provide an overview of the key concepts relating to probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotic organisms, and pharmabiotics, with a focus on available clinical evidence regarding the specific use of a unique pharmabiotic, the strain Lactobacillus acidophilus LB ( Lactobacillus boucardii), for the management of gastrointestinal disorders. Since it does not contain living organisms, the administration of L. acidophilus LB is effective and safe as an adjuvant in the treatment of acute diarrhea, chronic diarrhea, and antibiotic-associated diarrhea, even in the presence of immunosuppression.