Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
www.pharmpress.com/fact
Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2005; 10: 230
This review aimed to summarise recent findings on the health-benefit effects of probiotics in urological diseases. The use of certain beneficial strains against urogenital infections, bladder cancer recurrence and renal stone formation was discussed. Several clinical trials have been performed that substantiate the beneficial effects of the probiotic strains Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1, L. fermentum RC-14 and L. crispatus CTV-05 against urogenital infections, such as urinary tract infections and bacterial vaginosis. The potential of L. casei Shirota to reduce the recurrence rate of bladder cancer is one of the most intriguing examples of the use of probiotics in medical practice. The use of Oxalobacter formigenes in the prevention of calcium oxalate stone disease was only recently suggested and needs to be further investigated.