# What's the straight dope on diarrhea? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 23, 2006, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-diarrhea/365693 "2006-07-23T09:32:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gabriela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@gabriela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gabriela)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-diarrhea/365693/21 "2006-07-23T21:49:48Z")
[QUOTE=Renee] Thanks, **gabriela**. I am stunned that anyone is capable of making the digestive tract that interesting and comprehensible. Your students are lucky to have you as a teacher. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] gabriela! \<\\> [/QUOTE] Aww, guys!!! (wipes tear) Geez. ---
**Author:** ![gabriela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@gabriela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gabriela)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-diarrhea/365693/22 "2006-07-23T21:52:28Z")
**brossa** and **spingears** , thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-diarrhea/365693/23 "2006-07-23T22:46:53Z")
[QUOTE=gabriela] You want a neat little pile of turds you can deposit in a hidden place. [/QUOTE] You’ve been reading my Christmas list again, haven’t you? A doctor once told me, “if you’re vomiting or have diarrhea, don’t take anything to stop it–something has a reason to get out of you, and you should let it.” Barring dehydration, of course, is this true? ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-diarrhea/365693/24 "2006-07-23T23:09:52Z")
[QUOTE=gabriela] Diarrhea means that the function of your colon, which is to dry the shit, is being interrupted. Bacteria (almost always; rarely viruses; occasionally amoebas or other parasites) are making your colon sick, and it’s unable to dry the shit. [/QUOTE] Amoebiasis! Been there, done that. Never want to again. Curious, why does alcohol give you the runs, or at least a loose stool? Is it killing organisms that would otherwise be doing their “dry out the shit” job? ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-diarrhea/365693/25 "2006-07-23T23:39:25Z")
Is it possible for stress to induce diarrhea? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-diarrhea/365693/26 "2006-07-24T00:49:51Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] You’ve been reading my Christmas list again, haven’t you? A doctor once told me, “if you’re vomiting or have diarrhea, don’t take anything to stop it–something has a reason to get out of you, and you should let it.” Barring dehydration, of course, is this true? [/QUOTE] Yes and no. It depends on the cause, the duration, and the severity long before dehydration would set in. And it depends on the sensitivity of the colon to spasms. With lactose intolerance, for example, milk can set off a long bout of diarrhea. As you say correctly, the usual advice is to let it go because that will remove the undigested lactose as fast as possible. But there comes a point at which the experienced can tell that the spasms are coming from the irritation of the colon rather than the original cause, and that’s a good time to take the antidiarrheal and shut the system down to give oneself a break from the misery. And many people have IBS and that used to be called spasmic colon for obvious reasons. If you have IBS then the effect can last much longer than the originating cause would seem to warrant. The body doesn’t always shut down like a fine car, but sometimes more like a lawnmower sputtering to a stop. That’s where I would draw the line. ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-diarrhea/365693/27 "2006-07-24T01:06:30Z")
[QUOTE=LouisB] Is it possible for stress to induce diarrhea? [/QUOTE] Yes. In an otherwise healthy person, acute stress, like a job interview or public speaking engagement, can cause ‘situational’ diarrhea. Chronic stress can also lead to chronic diarrhea, but this sort of overlaps with irritable bowel syndrome. There are nerve connections between the central nervous system and the [enteric nervous system](http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/basics/gi_nervous.html). The sight and smell of food can lead to increased gastric secretion and motility - this is an example of the CNS having an immediate effect on the enteric nervous system. More complex stimuli, like emotional state or increased stress level, can also alter the activity of the gut, although the effects are not always so clean-cut. For example, a vigorous fight-or-flight stimulus, like encountering a bear in your kitchen, will tend to ramp up the activity of the sympathetic autonomic nervous system. This will generally have the effect of shutting off gut motility and secretion and decreasing gut bloodflow while you try to escape the bear - no use wasting the energy on digestion at the moment. Sphincters also tend to tighten up, literally. And yet, another well-described effect of sudden fear is spontaneous voiding of the bowel and bladder. Thus, an individual’s GI response to stress is liable to be unpredictable - nausea/vomiting, heartburn, diarrhea, or constipation are all possible. As for **levdrakon** ’s question about alcohol and diarrhea - to some extent it depends upon how much alcohol we’re talking about, and over how long a period of time. It may also be that something else in the drink, like the tannins in red wine, is causing the diarrhea. Ethanol is an irritant to mucous membranes, and increases the production of gastric acid and pancreatic juices. The lining of the small bowel can be damaged by large amounts of ethanol, and therefore not absorb as much as it normally would. Thus the colon can be exposed to an increased volume of poorly digested material which overwhelms its absorptive capacity (glossing over some details). Chronic alcoholics display permanent changes to the gut mucosa which impair their ability to properly absorb nutrients. In any event, I doubt that enough alcohol makes it to the colon to directly poison the colonic bacteria (barring enemas). Also, the bacteria are not trying to dry out the shit - they are just eating, excreting, dividing, and dying. It is the colonic lining that is working to absorb water, and in the case of SCFA, it is using the by-products of bacterial metabolism to help with the absorption. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-diarrhea/365693/28 "2006-07-24T01:08:37Z")
Fascinating thread. Really validates the adage that no one over 50 should trust a fart… ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-diarrhea/365693/29 "2006-07-24T01:37:54Z")
It’s my speculation that while antibodies against enterotoxigenic bacteria may give you “tough guts,” it’s also the colonization of the gut by local strains of E. coli that (1) can protect your mucosa (the way that **gabriela** described) from the local pathogens better than your native flora can, and (2) your colon needs to accept before they can do that. **spingears** , your cite doesn’t really address the issue of how much bacterial mass is in feces – the exact source and state of that 75% water has a lot to do with it. **Exapno Mapcase** , I thought it was called “_spastic_ colon.” **levdrakon** , heavy alcohol use can inflame colonic tissues, even killing cells outright, which interferes with the shit-drying mission. It can also interfere with absorption in the small intestine, which will (1) force the feces to flow faster and (2) cause undigested nutrients to pass into the colon, where they’re eaten by bacteria, which gets the gut gassy. **guinastasia** , the main purpose of mucus production in the colon is to lubricate the passage of stools. Excess mucus can indicate anything from hemorrhoids to colon cancer, and “colon cleansing” is a boneheaded scam that does no good, may do great harm, and at its worst may cover up a deadly disease state. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-diarrhea/365693/30 "2006-07-24T02:11:50Z")
When I lived in Israel for a year, I phased in local food and water gradually over about two weeks and had no trouble after that, except when I ate something once in East Jerusalem. However, when I went to Egypt, I was told that I couldn’t really acclimate, and that “even the people who live here have diarrhea if they drink the water.” Any truth to this? I assumed that in Israel the issue was acclimating, whereas in Egypt it was contamination (rather than local e. coli strains, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-diarrhea/365693/31 "2006-07-24T03:51:31Z")
[QUOTE=Street Deep] What’s the straight dope on diarrhea?QUOTE] It’s the shits. ---
**Author:** ![Feces\_Of\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8797f3/32.png) [@Feces\_Of\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feces_Of_Death)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-diarrhea/365693/32 "2006-07-24T06:19:53Z")
[QUOTE=gabriela] Most of human feces is bacteria. Billions upon billions of tiny bacteria corpses. No, wait, they don’t all have to be dead. Billions of bacteria make up your shit. Diarrheal or not. When I am torturing medical students around the open body (substitutes for campfire) I like to ask them, “Tell me in simple words that any layman could understand what the small bowel is for, then the large bowel.” After they struggle through arcane and complex answers I tell them what I was looking for. (This Socratic method of teaching in medicine is known as “pimping”, by the way.) The small bowel absorbs the calories out of your food. Every single calorie you are ever going to absorb. All the protein, fat, carbs, minerals, vitamins (except one). All the essential nutrients. Everything out of a GNC bottle that’s actually going to be of some use to you comes in through the small bowel. Then what is the large bowel there for? It dries the shit. No kidding. When the chyme (digested food byproducts, but not yet shit - generally odorless, or has a faint smell of food) exits the terminal ileum and enters the cecum, it is a continuous stream of slightly pasty fluid. I tell the students, “If you need an operation that gives you a colostomy, that is, you have to ‘wear the bag’, and if you are unlucky enough to need it in your right lower quadrant” (putting my hand on the spot), "you have to keep the bag on 24 hours a day. You have to use special sticky sealants to be sure the bag is attached and not becoming detached by the icky stuff flowing out. You have a bag of liquidy stuff hanging off you all the time. “On the other hand, if you need a colostomy in the usual place, over here” (hand on the left loewr quadrant), “then you can put the bag on in the morning after coffee, expel your turds, take it off, shower, put on your shirt, and go to work. You can make love with your spouse without it on. You can put it on when you need to take a dump.” This is only true if you aren’t having diarrhea. Diarrhea is not a symptom which is of use to the body - in fact, it’s highly dangerous if it gets bad. Cholera is essentially an attack of diarrhea (plus vomiting) so bad it kills you in a day or two. Diarrhea kills children in the third world because it dehydrates them and robs them of electrolytes like potassium that are lost with the watery feces; that’s why a simple rehydrating solution saves so many lives. Diarrhea means that the function of your colon, which is to dry the shit, is being interrupted. Bacteria (almost always; rarely viruses; occasionally amoebas or other parasites) are making your colon sick, and it’s unable to dry the shit. In some cases (like the vibrio of cholera, which makes a toxin which directly affects colonic mucosa cells), the colon turns around and actually pours water out, stealing it from your bloodstream via the capillaries in its wall. Now if you take a microscope down to the colonic mucosa, better still if you take a scientist down with you, you will see that “It dries the shit” means a thousand ingenious and tiny little operations involving miniature potassium and sodium transporters in the membranes of the cells, to suck out these electrolytes and let water diffuse passively after them. Billions of bacteria hang out against these mucosal cells, sometimes helping them actively (E. coli makes vitamin K which we can reabsorb - the only vitamin not absorbed in the small bowel), sometimes helping them passively (great volumes of E. coli may block more dangerous bacteria like shigella and salmonella from reaching the mucosa), sometimes harming them actively (E. coli O157:H7, in uncooked hamburger meat, has killed people’s children). All these things are involved in a huge production line, or dance if you prefer, which ends us up with neat little turds instead of a continuous stream of pasty shit. And any large and complex production line can go wrong. Think of ordinary diarrhea as workers throwing their wooden shoes into the machinery they resent, and cholera diarrhea from a vibriotoxin as terrorists taking down the factory with sarin gas. If the factory recovers, the water extraction process begins again, the water goes back into the venous capillaries that drain your gut, and you end up with neat little turds again. A final remark. Why do we have this large system to dry the shit? After all, it’s expensive to the body in terms of blood supply, nutrients required, constant maintenance (colonic mucosa cells die and are replaced faster than any other cell in the body), and the presence of a huge reservoir of internal bacteria that can be remarkably dangerous to us. My answer to this question comes from no Cite but makes a little sense. The only large animals in Nature that have continuous pasty dribbles of shit are fish and birds. These animals are hard for large predators to track by the dribble of shit. Let’s you and me start on the savannah at five million years ago. You have no colon, and I’ll have a colon. There’s a sabertooth cat on our trail. Which of us do you think it’ll pick off first? [/QUOTE] This is the first time someone has explained the digestive system to me and I understood it. Drying the shit! ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-diarrhea/365693/33 "2006-07-24T08:58:05Z")
Bravo, **gabriela!**! You’ve provided an explanation in moderate depth of a vital bodily function that’s wunerfully free of the obscure jargon of the medical priesthood! Thank you and **brossa** and thank all of you who have contributed to our gut understanding of these issues. Like others here, I have a question. I’m **not** asking for medical advice; I know that’s verboten here. But maybe someone can help me merely _understand_ the issues. For about 25 years, I’ve been diagnosed with ulcerative proctitis (for which I take 3 g of sulfasalazine daily). To me, it’s trivial in that it hasn’t produced the tiniest bit of pain or discomfort, except of course from above average incidence of diarrhea, which frankly isn’t that much of a bother. (I’d be interested to know just _why_ this causes diarrhea, but that’s not my main question.) My question is: How significant is the loss of nutrient absorption from what seems to be a relatively minor case of ulcerative proctitis? (My gastroenterologist doesn’t seem to want to answer such questions). If you choose, you can certainly put it in approximate terms (say 1 to 5, where 1 is trivial and 5 is major). ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-diarrhea/365693/34 "2006-07-24T09:49:21Z")
Oh, and by the way, to the best of my own personal knowledge (my gastroenterologist may know differently), I have **no** extra-intestinal symptoms, and I only observe blood (and only with hard stools) about once a year with no visible mucous ever (although I understand microscopic amounts of blood are common). This has _got_ to mean an especially mild case, doesn’t it? So that the loss of absorption has _got_ to be pretty trivial, right? ---
**Author:** ![gabriela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@gabriela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gabriela)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-diarrhea/365693/35 "2006-07-24T10:00:52Z")
I’m gonna need **QtM** or someone to weigh in on Ambushed’s question - I’ve never seen a fatal case of ulcerative proctitis. In fact, it’s not a disease I know, unless it is a different term for ulcerative colitis restricted to the very distal colon. In which case, it wouldn’t affect nutrient absorption at all! But I will let people who take care of the living, do the answering. ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-diarrhea/365693/36 "2006-07-24T11:26:27Z")
[QUOTE=gabriela] I’m gonna need **QtM** or someone to weigh in on Ambushed’s question - I’ve never seen a fatal case of ulcerative proctitis. [/QUOTE] But thanks for responding! [QUOTE=gabriela] In fact, it’s not a disease I know, unless it is a different term for ulcerative colitis restricted to the very distal colon. [/QUOTE] That’s it, exactly. 4-6 inches of the most distal part of the colon. [QUOTE=gabriela] In which case, it wouldn’t affect nutrient absorption at all! [/QUOTE] That would be my guess, too. That’s why I’m so curious about what my potential surgeon’s concerns are on that score regarding a malapsorbtive bariatric surgery. He tells me that would make the malabsorption worse, but I can’t help but think that’s only valid for people with a much worse case than mine. Thanks again! ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-diarrhea/365693/37 "2006-07-24T13:17:08Z")
Your bariatric surgeon is concerned because s/he cannot predict how your colon will respond to the drastic environmental alteration of a malabsorptive procedure. It could be catastrophic if the increase in volume, osmolarity, carbohydrate content, changed pH, etc. etc., changed your proctitis to full-fledged colitis, or set off sclerosing cholangitis, or led to breakdown of the surgical connections, or, or, or… A person with exercise-induced asthma may be able to use an inhaler and jog a mile at sea level, but totally decompensate when doing an Ironman triathlon at Lake Titicaca. Also, do not underestimate the ability of 6 inches of inflamed colon to dump a LOT of mucus, blood, and fluid. Try thinking of things this way: a un-surgerized person with uncontrolled ulcerative proctitis can have nutritional problems, not because the last couple inches of colon is not absorbing well, but because it is _actively secreting_ so much blood, mucus, and fluid. It’s hard to keep a boat afloat if some of the sailors are bailing and some are drilling holes in the hull. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-diarrhea/365693/38 "2006-07-24T15:29:42Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] There’s some truth to it. Lactobacillus bacteria are helpful in many ways, as this [Ask. Dr. Sears](http://askdrsears.com/html/4/t045700.asp) column lists. And those with lactose intolerance, which is a whole bunch of people, will likely get fewer symptoms from dairy products when their colon is colonized with these bacteria. Lactobacillus pills, like Digestive Advantage, are reported anecdotally to be just as beneficial, but I know of no formal studies on them. [/QUOTE] Probiotics offer a multitude of health benefits. They will help give you that “iron gut”. [http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/probiotics/AN00389](http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/probiotics/AN00389) \*There is growing public and scientific interest in probiotics. Researchers are studying whether probiotics taken as foods or supplements can help treat or prevent illness, such as: Vaginal yeast infections Diarrhea following treatment with certain antibiotics In addition, recent research suggests a number of new potential uses for probiotics. One study in Sweden found that a group of employees who were given probiotics missed less work due to illness than did employees who were not given probiotics. Other studies have found probiotics to be helpful in managing the signs and symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).\* > **[Probiotic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probiotics)** > > Probiotics are live microorganisms that are intended to support or improve the health and wellbeing of a host organism. They are commonly used in both humans and animals. Although the term refers to the microorganisms themselves, probiotics can be consumed through a range of products including yogurt, cheese, certain fermented foods (such as nattō), as well as capsules containing a single strain or a defined mixture of strains. Probiotics are regarded as generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by ... \*There is no published evidence that probiotic supplements are able to replace the body’s natural flora when these have been killed off. There is evidence, however, that probiotics do form beneficial temporary colonies which may assist the body in the same functions as the natural flora, while allowing the natural flora time to recover from depletion. The probiotic strains are then progressively replaced by a naturally developed gut flora. If the conditions which originally caused damage to the natural gut flora persist, the benefits obtained from probiotic supplements will be short lived. [edit] Benefits Scientists have found a range of potentially beneficial medicinal uses for probiotics. Briefly, they are described below. Managing Lactose Intolerance: Because LAB convert lactose into lactic acid, their ingestion may help lactose intolerant individuals tolerate more lactose than what they would have otherwise.[1] Prevention of Colon Cancer: In laboratory investigations, LAB have demonstrated anti-mutagenic effects thought to be due to their ability to bind with (and therefore detoxify) heterocylic amines; carcinogenic substances formed in cooked meat.[2] Animal studies have demonstrated that LAB can protect against colon cancer in rodents, though human data is limited and conflicting.[3] Most human trials have found that LAB may exert anti-carcinogenic effects by decreasing the activity of an enzyme called ß-glucuronidase [3] (which can regenerate carcinogens in the digestive system). Lower rates of colon cancer among higher consumers of fermented dairy products have been observed in some population studies;[1] the results of which are encouraging however more research is needed. Cholesterol Lowering: Animal studies have demonstrated the efficacy of a range of LAB to be able to lower serum cholesterol levels, presumably by breaking down bile in the gut, thus inhibiting its reabsorption (which enters the blood as cholesterol).Some, but not all human trials have shown that dairy foods fermented with LAB can produce modest reductions in total and LDL cholesterol levels in those with normal levels to begin with, however trials in hyperlipidemic subjects are needed.[1] Lowering Blood Pressure: Several small clinical trials have shown that consumption of milk fermented with various strains of LAB can result in modest reductions in blood pressure. It is thought that this is due to the ACE inhibitor like peptides produced during fermentation. [1] Improving Immune Function and Preventing Infections: LAB are thought to have several presumably beneficial effects on immune function. They may protect against pathogens by means of competitive inhibition (i.e., by competing for growth) and there is evidence to suggest that they may improve immune function by increasing the number of IgA-producing plasma cells , increasing or improving phagocytosis as well as increasing the proportion of T lymphocytes and Natural Killer cells. [4,5] Clinical trials have demonstrated that probiotics may decrease the incidence of respiratory tract infections [6] and dental caries in children[7] as well as aid in the treatment of Helicobacter pylori infections (which cause peptic ulcers) in adults when used in combination with standard medical treatments.[8] LAB foods and supplements have been shown to be effective in the treatment and prevention of acute diarrhea; decreasing the severity and duration of rotavirus infections in children as well as antibiotic associated and travelers diarrhea in adults.[4,5,9] Reducing Inflammation: LAB foods and supplements have been found to modulate inflammatory and hypersensitivity responses, an observation thought to be at least in part due to the regulation of cytokine function [4]. Clinical studies suggest that they can prevent reoccurrences of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in adults, [4] as well as improve milk allergies [10] and decrease the risk of atopic eczema in children.[11] Improving Mineral Absorption: It is hypothesized that probiotic lactobacilli may help correct malabsorption of trace minerals, found particularly in those with diets high in phytate content from whole grains, nuts, and legumes.[12] Prevents Harmful Bacterial Growth Under Stress: In a study done to see the effects of stress on intestinal flora, rats that were fed probiotics had no occurance of harmful bacteria latched onto their intestines compared to rats that were fed sterile water. [1]\* [http://www.webmd.com/hw/diet\_and\_nutrition/tp21170.asp](http://www.webmd.com/hw/diet_and_nutrition/tp21170.asp) \*Research has shown that probiotics may help reduce:1 The symptoms of bloating and diarrhea from lactose intolerance. Diarrhea that is a side effect of antibiotics. Flare-ups of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which causes diarrhea and abdominal pain. Inflammation of the ileal pouch (pouchitis) that may occur in people who have had surgery to remove the colon. \* ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-diarrhea/365693/39 "2006-07-24T17:29:40Z")
[QUOTE=gabriela] You want a neat little pile of turds you can deposit in a hidden place [/QUOTE] Er… define “hidden.” ---
**Author:** ![Fir\_na\_tine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-diarrhea/365693/40 "2006-07-24T19:34:17Z")
[QUOTE=gabriela] There’s a sabertooth cat on our trail. Which of us do you think it’ll pick off first? [/QUOTE] **Cervaise,** I’d hide along with my crap under a very, very large rock with a very, very small opening! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-diarrhea/365693.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-diarrhea/365693.md?page=3)