Industry-funded study of the week: a bacterial probiotic supplement and indigestion

• The study:  Bacillus Subtilis (BG01-4^TM) Improves Self-Reported Symptoms for Constipation, Indigestion, and Dyspepsia: A Phase 1/2A Randomized Controlled Trial,by Craig Patch, Alan J. Pearce, Mek Cheng, Ray Boyapati, and Thomas Brenna. Nutrients2023, 15(21), 4490; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15214490.  
• Background: Functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) are common, difficult-to-manage conditions. Probiotics are emerging as a dietary component that influence gastrointestinal (GI) health. We conducted a double-blinded randomised controlled trial of a proprietary strain of deactivated Bacillus subtilis (BG01-4™) high in branched-chain fatty acids (BCFA) to treat self-reported FGID.
• Methods: Participants (n = 67) completed a four-week intervention of BG01-4™ (n = 34) or placebo (n = 33). The Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS) served as the outcome measure, collected prior to, at two weeks, and at four weeks after completion of the intervention.
• Results: At four weeks, one of three primary outcomes, constipation in the experimental group, was improved by 33% compared to placebo (15%); both other primary outcomes, Total GSRS and diarrhoea, were significantly improved in both the experimental and placebo groups (32%/26% and 20%/22%, respectively). The pre-planned secondary outcome, indigestion, was improved at four weeks (32%) but compared to the placebo (21%) was not significant (p = 0.079). Exploratory analysis, however, revealed that clusters for constipation (18% improvement, p < 0.001), indigestion (11% improvement, p = 0.04), and dyspepsia (10% improvement, p = 0.04) were significantly improved in the intervention group compared to the placebo.
• Conclusions: These initial findings suggest that in people with self-reported FGID, BG01-4™ improves specific symptoms of constipation and related GI dysfunction. Longer-term confirmatory studies for this intervention are warranted.
• Conflicts of interest: C.P., M.C. and J.T.B. are directors of Adepa Lifesciences. The other authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

Comment: Three of the authors are involved with the maker of this supplement, Adepa Lifesciences, which makes this look like a marketing study.  It is published in the journal, Nutrients, an open-access journal.  Sharp eyed readers of this blog might notice that a large proportion of my industry-funded studies of the week appear in this journal.  It has an interesting policy.  It is fully open access and charges authors a fee accordingly.  That fee amounted to $3200 on October 30). 

Open Access and Article Processing Charge (APC)

Many science journals charge fees for open access, but usually offer authors a choice.  For the record, I have never paid to have an article published.