{"id":623061,"date":"2026-10-07T07:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T07:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/623061\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T07:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T07:28:08","slug":"probiotics-linked-to-less-fatigue-disability-in-relapsing-remitting-ms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/623061\/","title":{"rendered":"Probiotics linked to less fatigue, disability in relapsing-remitting MS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adding probiotics to standard multiple sclerosis<\/a> (MS) therapies may help to reduce fatigue, depression, and disability levels, as well as improve quality of life, in people with relapsing-remitting MS<\/a> (RRMS), according to data from a small clinical trial.<\/p>\n

Probiotics are\u00a0live microorganisms intended to support health.<\/p>\n

Compared with patients who continued standard treatment alone, those who received probiotics for three months also showed lower levels of the pro-inflammatory molecule IL-6 and higher levels of the anti-inflammatory molecule IL-10.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdjunctive probiotic use was associated with favorable changes in fatigue, quality of life, depressive symptoms, disability, and inflammatory markers in patients with RRMS,\u201d researchers wrote, adding that the findings are preliminary and that additional trials are needed to confirm the observed associations.<\/p>\n

The study,\u00a0\u201cProbiotics as a promising adjunct: associations with fatigue, quality of life, disability, mood, and inflammatory markers in Egyptian patients with relapsing\u2013remitting multiple sclerosis<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0was published in\u00a0The Egyptian Journal of Neurology, Psychiatry and Neurosurgery.<\/p>\n

Recommended Reading<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Gut microbiome a growing area of MS research<\/p>\n

MS is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue in the brain and spinal cord. Researchers are still trying to understand exactly how the disease develops, but both genetic and environmental factors are thought to contribute.<\/p>\n

Among the environmental factors studied in MS, a growing area of research is the gut microbiome, the community of microorganisms that live in the digestive tract. Changes in the gut microbiome have been associated with abnormal immune activity and inflammation in MS.<\/p>\n

The gut communicates with the brain through the so-called gut-brain axis. Molecules produced by gut microbes may influence immune responses and immune activity within the brain and spinal cord, providing a rationale for investigating whether probiotics that aim to restore the normal composition of gut microbes could complement established MS treatments<\/a>.\u00a0However, previous studies have produced inconsistent findings.<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/p>\n

Quality of life improved across all domains<\/p>\n

In this study, researchers in Egypt aimed to determine whether adding probiotics to standard treatment for three months could improve outcomes for people with RRMS. Their open-label study (NCT07346924)<\/a> involved 60 adults who had been clinically stable for the previous year on a disease-modifying therapy<\/a>\u00a0(DMT).<\/p>\n

Participants were randomly assigned to receive probiotics for three months in addition to their DMT or continue their DMT alone. The probiotic group consumed two cups of commercial probiotic yogurt daily containing several bacterial strains, including Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, along with one daily yeast tablet containing Saccharomyces cerevisiae.<\/p>\n

Results showed that total fatigue scores fell significantly in the probiotic group after three months, whereas they remained essentially unchanged in the control group. Improvements were also seen across the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial components of fatigue.<\/p>\n

Disability scores and depression also decreased significantly in the probiotic group while remaining similar or worsening slightly among controls.<\/p>\n

Quality of life improved across all domains, including physical and social functioning, general health, vitality, mental health, bodily pain, and the extent to which physical and emotional problems interfere with daily functioning.<\/p>\n

These findings are preliminary and should not be interpreted as evidence of definitive clinical efficacy or probiotic-induced modification of the gut microbiome..<\/p>\n

Finally, the probiotic group showed a marked decline in IL-6 and an increase in IL-10. Higher IL-6 levels at three months were associated with greater fatigue and accounted statistically for about 15% of the variation in fatigue scores.<\/p>\n

All participants completed the study, and no serious or treatment-related adverse events were reported.<\/p>\n

Among the study\u2019s limitations were its open-label design, meaning participants and researchers knew which treatment each participant received, and the lack of a placebo control. The intervention also combined probiotic yogurt with yeast, making it impossible to determine the contribution of each component.<\/p>\n

The study also\u00a0did not measure the composition or function of the gut microbiome, so it cannot show that the treatment altered gut microbes or that microbiome changes were responsible for the clinical findings.<\/p>\n

For this reason, the researchers concluded that\u00a0\u201cthese findings are preliminary and should not be interpreted as evidence of definitive clinical efficacy or probiotic-induced modification of the gut microbiome.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adding probiotics to standard multiple sclerosis (MS) therapies may help to reduce fatigue, depression, and disability levels, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[134,111,139,556,69],"class_list":["post-623061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-health","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nutrition","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}