Effect of composite yogurt enriched with acacia fiber and Bifidobacterium lactis

Table 3 Study parameters at week 8 and changes from baseline in constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome patients (mean ± SD)

	Test group (n = 19)				Control group (n = 22)				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)	28.95 ± 20.90	9.21 ± 12.39	-19.74	0.001	37.50 ± 25.30	15.91 ± 18.17	-21.59	0.001	0.8
Frequency of abdominal pain of discomfort/d	1.50 ± 1.17	0.89 ± 0.88	-0.61	0.032	1.27 ± 1.56	0.68 ± 0.78	-0.6	0.029	0.979
Abdominal distension or bloating (VAS)	44.74 ± 21.38	25.00 ± 16.67	-19.74	0.007	38.64 ± 22.79	26.14 ± 16.33	-12.5	0.031	0.393
Flatulence/wk	6.05 ± 5.03	6.13 ± 4.35	0.08	0.952	5.52 ± 3.34	6.02 ± 4.95	0.5	0.577	0.785
Bowel habit
Defecation frequency/wk	3.82 ± 2.08	5.61 ± 3.54	1.79	0.002	3.43 ± 1.55	5.39 ± 3.97	1.96	0.032	0.872
Defecation duration (min)	12.26 ± 7.33	9.66 ± 5.28	-2.61	0.106	10.84 ± 6.49	6.59 ± 4.07	-4.25	< 0.001	0.358
Urgency	4 (21.1%)	4 (21.1%)	0	1	3 (13.6%)	6 (27.3%)	3	0.375	0.336
Straining	18 (94.7%)	11 (57.9%)	-7	0.016	18 (81.8%)	12 (54.5%)	-6	0.146	0.321
Feeling of incomplete evacuation	15 (78.9%)	7 (36.8%)	-8	0.021	16 (72.7%)	9 (40.9%)	-7	0.016	0.776
Stool consistency (BSS)	2.26 ± 0.45	3.05 ± 0.85	0.789	0	2.18 ± 0.66	3.27 ± 1.08	1.09	0.001	0.386
Bowel habit satisfaction	30.26 ± 19.68	56.58 ± 20.14	26.32	0	27.27 ± 18.76	44.32 ± 21.73	17.05	0.004	0.21
Discomfort related to daily life (VAS)	34.21 ± 22.38	18.42 ± 16.33	-15.79	0.014	36.36 ± 21.45	27.73 ± 15.25	-13.64	0.015	0.782
Improvement in overall IBS symptoms (VAS)		72.4 ± 18.4				50.0 ± 21.8			< 0.001

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