YOGURT BOOST IN BUG BATTLE - Drink is 'lifesaver'

A YOGURT drink could be the antidote to a deadly form of diarrhoea, it was claimed yesterday.

Experts found drinking Actimel reduced the chance of people aged over 50 getting "the runs" linked with superbug Clostridium Difficile (C.Diff).

It also cut the risk of diarrhoea after antibiotics.

Researchers predicted the drink could save the NHS a lot of cash.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, was led by Dr Mary Hickson, a research dietetician at Imperial College London.

Her team recruited 135 patients from three hospitals in the city.

Chest

They had an average age of 74 and were receiving antibiotics for a range of conditions.

They were split into two groups, one given Actimel and the other a milkshake in a "blind" test.

Each patient received their drink within 48 hours of starting antibiotic therapy.

Samples of any diarrhoea were taken for analysis and the patients were followed up four weeks after the study.

The results showed that, of 113 patients tested again, those given the probiotic drink had suffered far less diarrhoea.

Only 12 per cent developed antibiotic associated diarrhoea, compared with 34 per cent of the milkshake group.

No one in the probiotic group had diarrhoea linked to C.Diff, compared with 17 per cent in the milkshake group.

C.Diff is responsible for around 15 to 25 per cent of all cases of diarrhoea associated with antibiotics, mostly occuring in older people.

Dr Hickson said: "We are not saying that a probiotic can cure C.Diff because the trial was to prevent the diarrhoea associated with it.

"It will reduce the risk of diarrhoea - not only to patients taking antibiotics in hospital but those taking them at home too."