Cited by 156Gastrointestinal motility and disordersProbiotics and Fermented FoodsGut microbiota and health

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 70 of the 70 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 1 of the 20 sources its claims cite were checked for support.

Clinical trial: a multistrain probiotic preparation significantly reduces symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome in a double-blind placebo-controlled study

Open access
WILLIAMS, E. A., STIMPSON, J., WANG, D., PLUMMER, S., GARAIOVA, I., BARKER, M. E., CORFE, B. M.·2009·Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics

Abstract

Summary: Background The efficacy of probiotics in alleviating the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) appears to be both strain‐ and dose‐related. Aim To investigate the effect of LAB4, a multistrain probiotic preparation on symptoms of IBS. This probiotic preparation has not previously been assessed in IBS. Methods Fifty‐two participants with IBS, as defined by the Rome II criteria, participated in this double blind, randomized, placebo‐controlled study. Participants were randomized to receive either a probiotic preparation comprising two strains of Lactobacillus acidophilus CUL60 (NCIMB 30157) and CUL21 (NCIMB 30156), Bifidobacterium lactis CUL34 (NCIMB 30172) and Bifidobacterium bifidum CUL20 (NCIMB 30153) at a total of 2.5 × 10 10 cfu/capsule or a placebo for 8 weeks. Participants reported their IBS symptoms using a questionnaire fortnightly during the intervention and at 2 weeks post‐intervention. Results A significantly greater improvement in the Symptom Severity Score of IBS and in scores for quality of life, days with pain and satisfaction with bowel habit was observed over the 8‐week intervention period in the volunteers receiving the probiotic preparation than in the placebo group. Conclusion LAB4 multistrain probiotic supplement may benefit subjects with IBS.

Overview

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1111/j.1365-2036.2008.03848.x

Cites

70 of 70 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

14 Not checked yet · 12 Own result · 10 Own method · 4 Own interpretation · 1 Partly supported · 1 No basis given · accuracy not yet measured

Verify all 19 references — free account

Show all 17 claims

  • It may state two separate claims as one. 14
  • The quote only partly states this claim. 1
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 14
25 of 25
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    Missing questionnaire data are missing at random in the ANOVA model analysis.

    “imputedbut are assumed to be missing at random in the ANOVA model analysis.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The LAB4 probiotic preparation had not previously been assessed in IBS.

    “This probiotic preparation has not previously been assessed in IBS.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The efficacy of probiotics in IBS is strain- and dose-related.

    “The efficacy of probiotics in alleviating the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) appears to be both strain-and dose-related.”
3 of 3

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Citations

Cites

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. FAO/WHO, 2001, Health and Nutritional Properties of Probiotics in Food Including Powder Milk with Live Lactic Acid Bacteria

Cited by

Sorted by citations

See all 156

Metadata

Authors
WILLIAMS, E. A., STIMPSON, J., WANG, D., PLUMMER, S., GARAIOVA, I., BARKER, M. E., & CORFE, B. M.
Affiliations
  • University of Sheffield (GB)
  • London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (GB)
  • Altran (United Kingdom) (GB)
Corresponding author
WILLIAMS, E. A.
Venue
Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2008-12-16
Volume
29
Issue
1
Pages
97-103
ISSN
  • 0269-2813 (ISSN-L)
  • 1365-2036
OpenAlex
W2147884617
Cited by
156
References
70
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 12
FWCI
6.91
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Gastroenterology › Gastrointestinal motility and disorders
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Probiotics and Fermented Foods
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
Keywords
irritable bowel syndrome, probiotics, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis, Bifidobacterium bifidum, IBS symptom severity, quality of life, abdominal pain, bowel habits, Rome II criteria
MeSH terms
Adult, Analysis of Variance, Bifidobacterium, Defecation, Double-Blind Method, Female, Humans, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Male, Middle Aged, Placebos, Surveys and Questionnaires, Severity of Illness Index, Time Factors, Treatment Outcome, Probiotics, Irritable Bowel Syndrome

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-10-05, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).

A second model labelled each claim on 2026-10-05 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).

Cited sources are checked with a language model’s help (gpt-6-sol).

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review