A study involving more than 450 people found that a mixture of prebiotics and probiotics alleviated some symptoms of long covid when taken daily for six months
By Grace Wade
26 December 2023
Illustration of probiotics, live microorganisms that can influence gut bacteria
ART-ur/Shutterstock
A daily cocktail of prebiotics and probiotics may help treat fatigue, memory loss and gastrointestinal upset in people with long covid – a condition where people experience lingering symptoms for months or years after contracting covid-19.
While long covid is poorly understood, previous research has shown that people with the condition have lower levels of certain gut microbes than those without. In particular, they lack gut bacteria that produce compounds called short-chain fatty acids, which regulate immune responses.
Read more
AI made from living human brain cells performs speech recognition
Advertisement
Siew Ng at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and her colleagues concocted a mixture to boost short-chain fatty acid production. Called SIM01, it contained three probiotics – live strains of bacteria – and three prebiotics, compounds that help beneficial gut microbes grow.
They gave the cocktail to 232 adults; another group of 231 adults took a mixture containing starch and low-dose vitamin C. Both mixtures were taken twice daily for six months. All participants lived in Hong Kong, had previously tested positive for covid-19 and met the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s criteria for long covid.
Researchers used a questionnaire to assess 14 long covid symptoms in participants before the treatment began and after it stopped. At the end of the trial, they found that people given SIM01 were, on average, about 2 to 2.5 times more likely to experience alleviation of five long covid symptoms – fatigue, memory loss, difficulty concentrating, general unwellness and gastrointestinal upset. The team also found no significant side effects of the therapy.