A review found that Limosilactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938 slightly shortened acute diarrhoea in children, but researchers said very low-certainty evidence calls for caution.
A new analysis suggests that one specific probiotic strain may trim a child’s stomach bug by a little under a day, but the evidence is weak enough that doctors are being urged to treat the result cautiously. Writing in Frontiers in Pediatrics, researchers found that Limosilactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938 shortened the duration of acute diarrhoea in children with gastroenteritis by an average of 0.68 days, or about 16 hours, compared with placebo or no treatment alongside standard rehydration.
The review pooled six randomised controlled trials involving 565 children, with 527 included in the main analysis. Although the finding points to a small benefit, the authors said the certainty of the evidence was very low, which means the result could shift with better studies. That matters because acute gastroenteritis remains one of the most common reasons young children are taken to doctors or hospital, especially in places where clean water, sanitation and vaccination coverage are limited.
The updated review builds on earlier work that had already hinted at a possible advantage for this strain. A 2019 meta-analysis of four trials found that L. reuteri DSM 17938 cut diarrhoea by 0.87 days, but the researchers at the time also warned that the studies were small and varied in quality. The new analysis includes more recent trials, including studies done during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, when the pattern of childhood gastrointestinal infections changed in many regions.
The latest review also found that any benefit was most noticeable in the first two to three days of illness. The chance of ongoing diarrhoea was only slightly lower at 24 hours, but the effect became larger at 48 and 72 hours before tapering off as most children recovered. No serious side effects were reported, and treatment-related harms were not seen to differ meaningfully from those in the control groups. However, the strongest effects came from the less rigorously blinded studies, which is one reason the authors said the headline result could be inflated.
That caution fits with broader guidance on probiotics. The World Gastroenterology Organisation has listed L. reuteri among strains that may reduce the length of diarrhoea in acute gastroenteritis, while the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition has suggested it may be considered alongside rehydration therapy. Even so, both the old and new reviews underline that probiotic effects are strain-specific and cannot be assumed to apply to other products. The researchers said future trials should be larger, double-blind and better at identifying the viruses or bacteria causing the illness before anyone can know whether this modest benefit is reliable enough to matter in everyday care.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
