Materials and Methods

Kefir was serially diluted and inoculated into de Man, Rogosa, and Sharpe agar and incubated at 37 C for 48 to 72 h under anaerobic conditions. This was a single-center, prospective, open-label randomized controlled trial. Forty-five patients with IBD were classified into two groups: 25 for treatment and 20 for control. A 400 mL/day kefir was administered to the patients for 4 weeks day and night. Their stool Lactobacillus, Lactobacillus kefiri, content was quantitated by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction before and after consumption. Abdominal pain, bloating, stool frequency, stool consistency, and feeling good scores were recorded in diaries daily by the patients.

Results

A 5� 10 7 CFU/mL count of lactic acid bacteria colony forming units was found in a kefir sample as the total average count. Lactobacillus bacterial load of feces of all subjects in the treatment group was between 10 4 and 10 9 CFU/g, and the first and last measurements were statistically significant (p= 0.001 in ulcerative colitis and p= 0.005 in Crohn’s disease (CD)). The L. kefiri bacterial load in the stool of 17 subjects was measured as between 10 4 and 10 6 CFU/g. For patients with CD, there was a significant decrease in erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein, whereas hemoglobin increased, and for the last 2 weeks, bloating scores were significantly reduced (p= 0.012), and feeling good scores increased (p= 0.032).

Conclusion

According to our data, kefir consumption may modulate gut microbiota, and regular consumption of kefir may improve the patient’s quality of life in the short term.