FGID and the role of probiotics

This presentation focuses on toddlers and older children with pain-related functional gastrointestinal disorders, which are often difficult and expensive to diagnose due to their broad causes.  FGID’s began to be studied in the 1950’s when the first diagnostic criteria were agreed by the medical community. 

The emotional burden associated with chronic abdominal pain regardless of its cause is enormous, and Iva Hojsak notes that high quality, placebo-controlled trials of pharmacological treatments are lacking.  However, there are extensive studies on the use of probiotics for FGID pain and four strains in particular have been identified.  We must remember that not all probiotics are the same: only the strain proven for specific clinical conditions should be recommended.