Herbal and Natural Products for Antibiotic-Associated Diarrhea: A Systematic Review of Animal Studies Focusing on Molecular Microbiome and Barrier Outcomes

Description

Ji Hye Hwang and You-Kyoung Choi (2025) reviewed animal studies of herbal and natural products for diarrhea caused by antibiotics. Antibiotics disturb gut microbes, weaken the gut lining, and stir inflammation, which drives the diarrhea. Probiotics help only so far under that pressure. The reviewers gathered 27 controlled animal studies from five databases. They tracked microbe diversity, gut chemical output, lining strength, and immune signals. Twenty-one studies tested herbal products alone and six tested them with probiotics.

Herbal treatments restored microbe diversity and raised helpful gut chemicals across studies. They strengthened the proteins that seal the gut wall and lowered inflammatory signals. Combinations with probiotics repaired more at once, and the few head-to-head studies favored the mix over either part alone. The authors note weak spots: few studies compared all options directly. They call for tighter animal work and human trials before clinics adopt these remedies.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12845432