Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31271261›Full record

Trial reportJournal of digestive diseases2019

Impact of a probiotic product on bowel habits and microbial profile in participants with functional constipation: A randomized controlled trial.

Christopher J Martoni, Malkanthi Evans, Cheryl-Emiliane T Chow, Luisa S Chan, Gregory Leyer

Open access · hybridAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Journal of digestive diseases, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
37citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
4.1field-weighted citation impact, top 6% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

37 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 62 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. [Seoul Consensus on Clinical Practice Guidelines for Functional Constipation].The Korean journal of gastroenterology = Taehan Sohwagi Hakhoe chi · 2025
    Guideline
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Evaluating the Effect ofNutrients · 2024
    Trial
  5. Adjunctive efficacy of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis XLTG11 for functional constipation in children.Brazilian journal of microbiology : [publication of the Brazilian Society for Microbiology] · 2024
    Trial
  6. Trial
  7. Trial
  8. Trial
  9. Nutrients · 2020
    Trial
  10. Trial
  11. Trial
  12. Food science & nutrition · 2026
    Article
  13. Review
  14. Review
  15. Article
  16. Review
  17. Pleiotropic Mucosal Innate Immune Memory in the Gastrointestinal Tract.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025
    Review
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Christopher J MartoniUAS Laboratories, Windsor, Wisconsin, USA.
Malkanthi EvansKGK Science, London, Ontario, Canada.
Cheryl-Emiliane T ChowSecond Genome, South San Francisco, California, USA.
Luisa S ChanSecond Genome, South San Francisco, California, USA.
Gregory LeyerUAS Laboratories, Windsor, Wisconsin, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1745-4343
Second Genome (United States) · USWindsor Dermatology · USSciencetech (Canada) · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo investigate the clinical efficacy of a multi-strain probiotic product on bowel habits and microbial profile in participants with functional constipation.

methodsThis was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and parallel-arm study. Altogether 94 otherwise healthy adults aged 18 to 65 years with symptoms of functional constipation were randomized as part of the intention-to-treat population. The participants received a placebo or the probiotic product (1.5 × 10

resultsThere were no significant between-group differences in the PAC-SYM score, despite significant within-group differences (P < 0.001) over the study period. The probiotic group showed a faster normalization of stool frequency and consistency, with most participants achieving a normalized profile after 1 week. Fecal samples of the probiotic group exhibited higher relative abundance of Ruminococcaceae (P = 0.0047), including the Ruminococcus genus, and lower relative abundance of Erysipelotrichaceae (P = 0.0172) at end-point compared with baseline. Placebo group samples showed similar abundance profiles over the study, with the exception of Clostridiaceae, which was lower at the study end-point (P = 0.0033). Among treated participants, all four probiotic strains were significantly more abundant after the intervention.

conclusionsNo significant differences were observed in symptomology, with both groups showing a more than 20% improvement. However, the probiotic helped modulate bowel function earlier than the placebo, with a corresponding shift to a more fibrolytic microbiota.

Indexed as

AdolescentAdultAgedBacterial Typing TechniquesConstipationDefecationDouble-Blind MethodEnergy IntakeExerciseFecesGastrointestinal MicrobiomeHumansMetagenomeMiddle AgedProbioticsProspective Studiesbowel habitfunctional constipationmicrobiomeprobioticrandomized controlled trial

Identifiers

PMID31271261
PMCPMC6851827
OpenAlexW2953536141

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.