All by itself, constipation is a serious health problem accounting for some 2.5 million visits to American doctors, not to mention a growing number of trips to the ER. Constipation is also one of the telltale symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a chronic condition that affects the colon.

In the past, people have attempted to treat their IBS symptoms with drugs like mesalazine and mexiletine with only mixed results and a lot of unwanted side effects.

The real problem with taking these kinds of drugs is that they don’t get to the root cause of the problem: Rebuilding the healthy balance of beneficial bacteria in the gut.

Taking a multi-species probiotic can do a great deal of good, not only in restoring that gut healthy balance, but treating IBS symptoms associated with constipation too, according to a recent Italian study appearing in BioMed Research International.

For their randomized, double-blind study, scientists divided 150 IBS patients (all adults between age 18-65) with constipation issues into three groups, including one who received a placebo, for 60 days.

Interestingly, three of the five strains of beneficial bacteria in the multi-species probiotic given to patients — blends of Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus acidophilus — are contained in EndoMune Advanced Probiotic.

Compared to the placebo group, the major symptoms of IBS patients taking a multi-species probiotic improved from 74-82 percent compared to just 40 percent for the placebo group.

Even better, patients in both probiotic groups enjoyed relief from symptoms 30 days after the end of supplementation. In fact, signs of some beneficial bacteria were present in stool samples taken from patients too.

This study provides more evidence that taking a probiotic can be a much safer, healthier solution for treating constipation, especially the variety connected with IBS and a lot of other gut-related problems.

Again, the real trick is taking a probiotic made with multiple strains of bacteria from three key “families” (plus a prebiotic) like EndoMune Advanced Probiotic that supports the diversity of bacteria that inhabit your gut.