Effect of composite yogurt enriched with acacia fiber and Bifidobacterium lactis

Table 4 Study parameters at week 8 and changes from baseline in diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome patients (mean ± SD)

	Test group (n = 19)				Control group (n = 16)				P value1
	Baseline	wk 8	Δ wk 8	P value	Baseline	wk 8	Δ wk 8	P value
Abdominal symptoms
Abdominal pain or discomfort (VAS)	32.89 ± 14.56	9.21 ± 14.93	-23.68	0	29.69 ± 10.08	20.3 ± 18.8	-9.38	0.083	0.05
Frequency of abdominal pain or discomfort/d	2.45 ± 3.18	0.63 ± 0.83	-1.82	0.036	1.25 ± 0.71	0.91 ± 0.94	-0.34	0.245	0.117
Abdominal distension or bloating (VAS)	43.42 ± 23.34	25.00 ± 20.41	-18.42	0.012	35.94 ± 15.73	29.69 ± 20.85	-6.25	0.164	0.146
Flatulence/wk	4.63 ± 2.36	4.08 ± 2.67	-0.55	0.503	4.66 ± 2.15	5.50 ± 3.38	0.84	0.255	0.212
Bowel habit
Defecation frequency/wk	10.55 ± 8.18	8.79 ± 4.46	-1.76	0.381	9.09 ± 4.19	9.09 ± 4.12	0	1	0.451
Defecation duration (min)	6.66 ± 5.57	6.58 ± 4.98	-0.08	0.938	8.00 ± 4.75	7.03 ± 3.81	-0.97	0.3	0.52
Urgency	10 (52.6%)	8 (42.1%)	-2	0.625	12 (75.0%)	11 (68.8%)	-1	1	0.867
Straining	8 (42.1%)	3 (15.8%)	-5	0.063	7 (43.8%)	2 (12.5%)	-5	0.063	0.707
Feeling of incomplete evacuation	13 (68.4%)	6 (31.6%)	-7	0.039	12 (75.0%)	5 (31.3%)	-7	0.016	0.826
Stool consistency (BSS)	5.42 ± 1.17	4.16 ± 0.38	-1.26	0.001	5.50 ± 1.10	4.88 ± 1.09	-0.63	0.036	0.738
Bowel habit satisfaction	31.58 ± 18.34	64.47 ± 19.21	32.9	0	40.63 ± 15.48	48.44 ± 17.00	7.81	0.173	0.006
Discomfort related to daily life (VAS)	36.84 ± 24.11	23.68 ± 25.65	-13.16	0.163	29.69 ± 13.60	28.13 ± 17.97	-1.56	0.751	0.292
Improvement in overall IBS symptoms (VAS)		61.8 ± 17.4				51.6 ± 14.3			0.07

¹Comparison between both groups. IBS: Irritable bowel syndrome; VAS: Visual analog scale; BSS: Bristol stool scale.