Probiotic use in clinical practice: Results of a national survey of gastroenterologists and nutritionists

Abstract

Introduction and aims: Probiotics are effective in gastrointestinal disease management. In Mexico, there are no studies on the use and prescription of probiotics by healthcare professionals. Our aim was to evaluate probiotic use and prescription on the part of gastroenterologists and nutritionists.

Materials and methods: An online survey questionnaire was sent to members of the Asociación Mexicana de Gastroenterología (n = 1042), the Asociación Mexicana de Nutriología (n = 220), and healthcare professionals registered at the Fourth International Symposium: Intestinal Microbiota (n = 1328).

Results: Response was 34% (997 questionnaires answered) and 570 (64%) of the respondents were women. Mean participant age was 36.2 years (range 18-83). Thirty-six percent of the participants were gastroenterologists, 46% were nutritionists, and 18% were chemists and microbiologists. Seventy-one percent of the respondents knew the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) definition of probiotics and recommended them «always» (64.9%), «rarely» (31.7%), and «never» (3.6%). Gastroenterologists indicated probiotics for the treatment of disease (56.5%) and nutritionists for health maintenance (39%). Ninety-seven percent of the gastroenterologists and 98% of the nutritionists evaluated probiotics as effective in gastrointestinal symptom management and considered them safe. The majority of the respondents did not know which probiotic strain was contained in the commercial probiotic product.

Conclusions: The survey results showed that the participating gastroenterologists and nutritionists understood the concept of probiotics, recommended them frequently, and considered them safe. The gastroenterologists prescribed probiotics as therapeutic agents and the nutritionists to maintain health. There was a lack of knowledge about the microbial composition of the products containing probiotics available in Mexico.

Keywords: Encuesta; Probiotics; Probióticos; Recomendaciones de probióticos; Recommendations for probiotics; Survey.