Dietary supplements, herbal therapy may relieve pain in IBS patients, finds study

Written By : Medha Baranwal |Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli Published On 2021-01-11T18:45:52+05:30 | Updated On 12 Jan 2021 2:52 PM IST

USA: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies may be beneficial for relieving abdominal pain and other symptoms in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients, suggests a recent study in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. CAM therapies include dietary supplements, herbal therapy, mind-body based, body-based, and energy-healing treatment.

Wade Billings, Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indiana, USA, and colleagues conducted a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis examining the efficacy of CAM vs. placebo or sham in adults with IBS.

The researchers searched the publication databases for RCTs of CAM therapies in IBS patients. The data was extracted to obtain pooled estimates of mean improvement in abdominal pain and relative risk (RR) of overall response using random-effects models. Sensitivity and subgroup analyses along with quality assessments were completed. 2825 articles were identified, out of which 66 were included.

Also Read: Asthma and food allergies during childhood linked to increased risk of IBS

Key findings of the study include:

Herbal therapy (SMD=0.47) demonstrated significant benefit over placebo for abdominal pain (low confidence in estimates).
Benefit with mind-body based therapy for abdominal pain was of borderline significance (SMD=0.29).
Herbal therapy (RR=1.57), dietary supplements (RR=1.95), and mind-body based therapy (RR=1.67) showed benefit for overall response compared to placebo (low confidence in estimates).
Body-based and energy healing therapies demonstrated no significant benefit over placebo or sham for abdominal pain or overall response.

"CAM therapies may be beneficial for abdominal pain and overall response in IBS. However, the overall quality of evidence is low. Rigorous, high-quality clinical trials are warranted to investigate CAM in IBS," concluded the authors.

Also Read: Dietary fructose may heighten risk of inflammatory bowel disease, reveals study

The study, "Potential Benefit with Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis," is published in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

DOI: https://www.cghjournal.org/article/S1542-3565(20)31296-9

Clinical Gastroenterology and HepatologyComplementary and Alternative Medicineirritable bowel syndromeabdominal pain

Source : Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Medha Baranwal

MSc. Biotechnology

Medha Baranwal joined Medical Dialogues as an Editor in 2018 for Speciality Medical Dialogues. She covers several medical specialties including Cardiac Sciences, Dentistry, Diabetes and Endo, Diagnostics, ENT, Gastroenterology, Neurosciences, and Radiology. She has completed her Bachelors in Biomedical Sciences from DU and then pursued Masters in Biotechnology from Amity University. She has a working experience of 5 years in the field of medical research writing, scientific writing, content writing, and content management. She can be contacted at editorial@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751

Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751