Effect of Korean Herbal Medicine Combined with a Probiotic Mixture on Diarrhea-Dominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial

Table 3

The change of 7 types of strains numbers, Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio in feces, and IPI value among 4 groups between 0 week and 8 weeks.

	Variables	GJS-P+DUO-P; (𝑛=13)	GJS+DUO-P; (𝑛=13)	GJS-P+DUO; (𝑛=10)	GJS+DUO; (𝑛=12)	P value
Δ𝑁 log10 (Mean ± SD)/1 g feces of bacterial species	B. longum	−0.016±0.424	−0.147±0.203	0.302±0.448	−0.184±0.198	0.695
	B. brevis	−1.120±0.405	−0.333±0.282	1.850±0.477	1.670±0.485	<0.001
	B. lactis	−0.993±0.357	0.177±0.369	1.811±0.381	2.060±0.412	<0.001
	S. thermophilus	−0.168±0.402	−0.388±0.320	0.802±0.252	0.842±0.270	0.01
	L. rhamnosus	−0.553±0.788	0.654±0.678	2.478±0.682	3.525±0.592	<0.001
	L. plantarum	−1.338±0.465	−0.324±0.538	1.528±0.351	2.029±0.463	<0.001
	L. acidophilus	−0.784±0.601	−0.537±0.447	1.723±0.550	1.790±0.370	<0.001
	Firmicute/Bacteriodetes	0.410±0.149	−0.139±0.226	0.392±0.313	−0.050±0.199	0.211
The change of IPI value		0.136±2.025	−0.546±1.642	−1.190±1.413	−0.741±1.980	0.398

GJS: Gwakhyangjeonggisan, DUO: Duolac7S, GJS-P: placebo of Gwakhyangjeonggisan, DUO-P: placebo of Duolac7S, IPI (%): intestinal permeability index (Lactulose/mannitol).
The change of number of bacterial species was analyzed by one way-ANOVA and presented as Δ𝑁 log₁₀ (mean ± SD)/1 g feces.
The change of intestinal permeability index is presented as percentage (%).