Probiotics improve nausea and vomiting in pregnancy
Findings also provide clues to why some people experience more stomach
upset during pregnancy

Date:
December 4, 2021
Source:
University of California - Davis Health
Summary:
Researchers found that probiotics significantly improve the symptoms
of pregnancy-related nausea, vomiting and constipation. Nausea
and vomiting affect about 85% of pregnancies and can significantly
impact quality of life, particularly during early pregnancy.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers at the UC Davis School of
Medicine found that probiotics significantly improve the symptoms of pregnancy-related nausea, vomiting and constipation. The findings were published in the journal Nutrients.


========================================================================== Nausea and vomiting affect about 85% of pregnancies and can significantly impact quality of life, particularly during early pregnancy.

"The cause of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy is unknown to this
date.

Various theories have been proposed, but none of them is conclusive," said Albert T. Liu, lead author for the study and a professor of obstetrics
and gynecology.

"Nausea, vomiting and constipation during pregnancy can significantly
diminish the quality of patients' lives. Once nausea and vomiting during pregnancy progress, they can become difficult to control, and sometimes
the patient even needs to be hospitalized," Liu said.

Beneficial microbes Probiotics are referred to as "beneficial
bacteria." They can be found in foods like yogurt, kimchi, kefir,
sauerkraut and tempeh. Probiotics are also available as food
supplements. According to the National Center for Complementary and
Integrative Health, other than vitamins, probiotics or prebiotics were
the third most commonly used dietary supplement for adults.



========================================================================== Probiotics are thought to support the community of different microbes,
often referred to as the "gut microbiome," found in the gastrointestinal
tract.

During pregnancy, hormones like estrogen and progesterone increase,
bringing about many physical changes. These increases can also change
the gut microbiome, which likely affects the digestive system functions
and causes unwanted symptoms like nausea, vomiting and constipation.

The researchers set out to determine whether supplementing with a
probiotic could be beneficial for gastrointestinal function during
pregnancy.

The study lasted for 16 days. A total of 32 participants took a probiotic capsule twice a day for six days and then took two days off. They then
repeated the cycle.

The probiotics were available over-the-counter and mainly containedLactobacillus.,a type of good bacteria. Each capsule contained approximately 10 billion live cultures at the time of manufacture.



========================================================================== Participants kept 17 daily observations of their symptoms during the
duration of the study, for a total of 535 observations for the researchers
to statistically assess.

What the researchers found was that taking the probiotic significantly
reduced nausea and vomiting. Nausea hours (the number of hours
participants felt nauseous) were reduced by 16%, and the number of times
they vomited was reduced by 33%. Probiotic intake also significantly
improved symptoms related to quality of life, such as fatigue, poor
appetite and difficulty maintaining normal social activities, as scored
by questionnaires.

Probiotics were also found to reduce constipation significantly.

"Over the years, I've observed that probiotics can reduce nausea and
vomiting and ease constipation. It's very encouraging that the study
proved this to be true," said Liu. "Probiotics have also benefited many
of my other patients who weren't in the study," said Liu.

New clues from gut microbes and byproducts Participants also contributed
fecal specimens before and during the study. The samples were analyzed
to identify the type and number of microbes and the different byproducts
of digestion.

This allowed the researchers to examine whether biomarkers in the
fecal specimens corresponded with more severe nausea and assess how
the probiotics affected participants who began the study with different baseline biomarkers.

One finding was that a low amount of bacteria that carry an enzyme named
bile salt hydrolase, which generates bile acid to absorb nutrients, was associated with more pregnancy-related vomiting. Probiotics increase bile
salt hydrolase- producing bacteria, which may explain why the supplements decreased levels of nausea and vomiting.

Another finding was that high levels of the gut microbes Akkermansia
and A.

muciniphilaat the beginning of the study were associated with more
vomiting.

The probiotic significantly reduced the amount of those particular
microbes and also reduced vomiting. This suggests Akkermansia and
A. muciniphila may be reliable biomarkers that can predict vomiting
in pregnancy.

Another finding was that vitamin E levels increased after taking
probiotics.

Higher levels of vitamin E were associated with low vomiting scores.

"This research provides key insights about the impact of gut microbes on gastrointestinal function during pregnancy. Our gut microbiota explains
why we are what we eat, and why bacteria-generated metabolites and
products have a huge impact on our health," said Wan. "They affect the gastrointestinal tract as well as skin health and neurological function." Although the findings are intriguing, the researchers caution that due
to the small sample size, further studies will be needed to confirm the
effects of the probiotics.

"Our previous work showed the benefits of probiotics in preventing
liver inflammation. The current study might be one of the first to
show the benefits of probiotics in pregnancy," said Wan. "It would
be interesting and important to further test whether probiotics can
reduce nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy in cancer patients." Additional authors on this study include Shuai Chen from the Department
of Public Health Sciences, and Prasant Kumar Jena, Lili Sheng and Ying
Hu from the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the
University of California, Davis.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
University_of_California_-_Davis_Health. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Albert T. Liu, Shuai Chen, Prasant Kumar Jena, Lili Sheng, Ying
Hu, Yu-
Jui Yvonne Wan. Probiotics Improve Gastrointestinal Function and
Life Quality in Pregnancy. Nutrients, 2021; 13 (11): 3931 DOI:
10.3390/ nu13113931 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/12/211204190916.htm

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