Collinson S, Deans A, Padua-Zamora A, Gregorio GV, Li C, Dans LF, Allen SJ. Link to website with PDF availability: Probiotics for treating acute infectious diarrhoea. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2020, Issue 12. Art. No.: CD003048. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD003048.pub4. Thanks to Kipp Ellsworth for this reference.

This review identified “82 studies in 12,127 people (included 11,526 children) with acute diarrhea.” Key findings:

• The number of children with diarrhea longer than 48 hours was not different between those taking a probiotic and those taking a placebo
• “It was unclear whether taking probiotics shortened the time spent in hospital compared with taking a placebo or no additional treatment .”

My take: Probiotics probably make little or no difference in the setting of acute gastroenteritis/diarrhea. This analysis is based on large trials with low risk of bias.

Related blog posts:

• AGA Practice Guidelines: Probiotics do NOT help most GI conditions
• Lack of Efficacy for Probiotics in AGE (Part 1)
• Lack of Efficacy for Probiotics in AGE (Part 2)
• Weak Support For Probiotics in Acute Gastroenteritis
• Those Probiotics May Actually Be Hurting Your Gut Heatlh
• Are Probiotics Effective in Changing the Microbiome?
• How helpful are probiotics?