Constipation is a highly prevalent
functional gastrointestinal disorder that may significantly affect the quality of life and health care costs. Treatment for
constipation has been broadly reviewed by cognitive therapies, medications, and surgical interventions. Gut microbiota such as Bifidobacterium, Clostridium, Bacteroidetes, and Lactobacilli have been demonstrated in
functional gastrointestinal disorders and
prebiotics to play a role in augmenting their presence.
Prebiotics are ingredients in foods that remain undigested, stimulating the bacteria. There are a variety of
prebiotics; however, there exists only a handful of studies that describe their efficacy for chronic
constipation. The purpose of this study is to review the available literature on the utility of different commercially available
prebiotics in patients with functional and chronic idiopathic
constipation. To fulfil the objectives of the study, published articles in the English language on databases such as Pubmed, Ovid Medline, and EMBASE were searched. The terms
prebiotics,
constipation, chronic
constipation, functional
constipation were used. We reviewed and included 21 randomized controlled trials exploring the role of
prebiotics in constipated adults.
Prebiotics are effective treatments for chronic idiopathic
constipation and showed improvement in the stool consistency, number of bowel moments and bloating. Although which
prebiotic formulary would promote improved symptoms of
constipation is still not clear.