Irritable Bowel Syndrome or IBS is a common gastrointestinal disorder often unreported and underdiagnosed. You can be aged anywhere from 15-65 years old. Imagine waking up with abdominal pain, bloating, distension, flatulence, with constipation and/or diarrhoea. This goes on not just the whole day but continues to the next day, and the next, with no sign of letting up. You cannot enjoy your food as you used to, fearing that a particular type of food will add to the bloating, distension and flatulence as well as the alteration in stool. Over 800 million people suffer from IBS. This gastrointestinal syndrome is a collection of symptoms as listed above, and is diagnosed according to the Rome III criteria as recurrent abdominal pain or discomfort (an uncomfortable sensation not described as pain) for at least 3 days in a month in the last 3 months associated with 2 or more of the following : improvement with defecation, onset associated with a change in the frequency of stool, and the onset associated with a change in the frequency of stool according to the Bristol stool chart.

IBS can affect anyone and up to as high as 21% of adults are affected in certain regions. More women (70%) than men (30%) suffer from IBS and all ages are affected from teenagers to the elderly. However IBS is most commonly found in the age groups 30-50 years old. Many people don’t even realise that this is a condition with only 30% of sufferers consulting their doctors about this condition. There are many different remedies on the market but only 8% of patients are satisfied with their particular remedy.

Professor Pierre Desreumaux, Head of the Inflammatory Digestive Diseases Research Unit at Lille University in France was present at the media launch of The Prime ProGIGuard today to speak about the role the special yeast probiotic, Saccharomyces cerevisiae CNCM I-3856 plays in relieving IBS as the active ingredient in The Prime ProGIGuard, a special formulation designed to combat IBS.

According to Professor Pierre Desreumaux, one way to combat IBS is to consume probiotics, a product readily available on the market. However, The Prime ProGIGuard is the only yeast probiotic available on the market, so that it can get rid of bad bacteria AND bad yeast, especially harmful candida bacteria that can enter the bloodstream.

The Prime ProGiGuard has been clinically proven to relieve gastrointestinal symptoms, and is suitable from anyone suffering from indigestion, food poisoning, food allergies and/or food intolerance, constipation, diarrhoea, trapped wind and bloating, overeating, anxiety, depression, stomach flu or even menstrual pain.

Studies have shown that sufferers of gastrointestinal pain and discomfort experienced a significant reduction in symptoms from the first week onwards of consumption and especially within the first two weeks/15 days of consumption.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae in The Prime ProGIGuard works on IBS in several ways. One of the ways is that Saccharomyces cerevisiae CNCM I-3856 secretes saccharolytic enzymes and assisting intestinal flora in generating short chain fatty acids that accelerates the bowel movements. It also acts as a visceral analgesic, increasing resistance to pain by up to 40%. It also acts as an anti-inflammatory to combat intestinal inflammation. It helps rebalance the bacteria in the gut, being shown to reduce the harmful bacteria Enterococcus, E. coli and C. albicans. The result is decreased inflammation, bloating, pain, discomfort, constipation among relief of the other symptoms of IBS.

The Prime ProGIGuard retails atRM66.80 for a bottle of 30 capsules and RM111.80 for a bottle of 60 capsules. It is available at Guardian, Caring, AA and other leading pharmacies nationwide. The Prime ProGIGuard is solely distributed by Cambert (M) Sdn Bhd in Malaysia.