The effect of probiotic supplementation on intestinal functions improvement in preschool children with constipation

Introduction: Constipation is one of the common clinical occurrences in children and it is considered to be a public health problem. Its prevalence is 0.7 to 29.6 of the world wide general population. It seems that probiotics can have a useful role in decreasing the symptoms of constipation. This study performed to investigate the efficacy of probiotics treatment of constipation in preschool children. Methods: for this research, 55 articles from PubMed, Medline and Google scholar that aimed with evaluating efficacy of the GUT micro biota or using probiotic supplements on people with constipation were studied and those ones, which were studying on preschool children selected. Results: it was found that the studies of probiotics on children with constipation had different outcomes. In some studies, using Lactobacillus casei rhamnosus Lcr35, Bifidobacterium longum as probiotic supplements and Protexin have had scientific effects on bowel movement frequency and stool consistency in children with constipation. However; no definitions of therapeutic success was found between control group and probiotics group of those children in nearly any of the studies. Conclusion: The differences between the outcomes of studies on constipation in preschool children, can be affected by varieties of probiotics, the dosage used for treatment, duration ofsupplementation, age and gender and severity of symptoms. Despite the positive outcomes of probiotics on children with constipation, there is still no evidence of therapeutic effects on treatment of constipation in preschool children.

Keywords:

constipation , probiotics , children , preschool , supplementation.