Probiotics: assessing health professionals' knowledge and understanding

Abstract

This article presents the results of a survey of primary care professionals, investigating their understanding and use of probiotics. While probiotics were recommended by 51.6% of the nurses who responded, probiotic recommendation was even higher in dietitians (91.2%) and GPs (78%). The main occasions for recommending probiotics were: during and after a course of antibiotics; irritable bowel syndrome; diarrhoea; for patients who are run down and susceptible to infection; constipation; diverticulitis; ulcerative colitis; before travel abroad; and for older persons and mothers or babies in families with allergic tendencies. Formulating evidence-based decisions for this category of functional foods might be difficult, however, as 33.3% of nurses said they had a poor or nonexistent understanding of probiotics. As scientific evidence for probiotics continues to accumulate, with positive results reported in a wide range of health areas, health professionals need to keep up to date, so that they can advise patients.