"Yogurts and supplements loaded with friendly bacteria http may be able to fight the nefarious ones and soothe fickle bowels according to a new study. A Cochrane Library review httponlinelibrary.wiley.comocochraneclsysrevarticlesCDframe.html of  studies found that probiotics can shorten the time a person has acute diarrhea  with no negative side effects. On average using probiotics reduced a bout of diarrhea by more than a day and reduced the risk of a prolonged diarrhea episode  four days or more  by  percent. Stephen Allen http a pediatrician at Swansea University in the United Kingdom who lead the review tells Shots that probiotics were effective in almost all the studies which had more than  participants total his team evaluated.  Among the different bacteria tested were L. acidophilus S. boulardii and L. casei which occur naturally or are added to products like supplements yogurt miso soy milk and some juices. Surprising thing was it didnt really matter what type of probiotic was used or in which setting Allen says. However the impact of the probiotics varied greatly from study to study researcher found. Article continues after this message from our sponsor Authors of the review note that probiotics can work in several ways including robbing the offending bacteria viruses or parasites of nutrients. The review confirms the findings of another review in  which also showed that probiotics had some effect against diarrhea. Allen says that since the original review theres been increasing interest in probiotics and therefore more research. The conclusions we can draw now are much stronger Allen says. Scientists are also optimistic about using probiotics in developing countries where diarrhea is a big problem and can even be fatal. Even so Allen says more research is needed to determine the specific strains of bacteria that are most effective. And he says researchers need to take a look at probiotic regimes that could best target different cases of acute diarrhea in both developed and developing countries."