The effects of synbiotics supplementation on reducing chemotherapy-induced side effects in women with breast cancer - randomized placebo-controlled doubleblind clinical trial

Q: What was the purpose of the study on synbiotics during chemotherapy?

To evaluate synbiotics (probiotics + prebiotics) supplementation as an adjuvant approach for reducing common chemotherapy side effects in women with breast cancer.

Q: How was the trial designed and who participated?

The randomized, placebo-controlled double-blind clinical trial enrolled 67 women with confirmed breast cancer who were hospitalized for one-day chemotherapy sessions and met inclusion criteria.

Q: Which chemotherapy side effects showed significant improvement with synbiotics?

After 8 weeks, severity of chemotherapy complications including abnormal defecation and fatigue decreased significantly compared with placebo; anorexia and nausea/vomiting improved compared with baseline, though the placebo comparison was not statistically significant.

Sep 24, 2026

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Breast cancer incidence and mortality are rising among women worldwide, and chemotherapy regimens can be exhausting and burdensome due to frequent side effects. This randomized, placebo-controlled double-blind clinical trial evaluated synbiotics (probiotics + prebiotics) as a safe, low-cost adjuvant to reduce common chemotherapy-induced complications in women with breast cancer. Sixty-seven hospitalized participants received synbiotics twice daily for 8 weeks, with symptoms assessed via validated questionnaires.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Introduction

Khazaei etal. BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies (2023) 23:339 [https://doi.org/10.1186/s12906-023-04165-8](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12906-023-04165-8) BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies RESEARCH Open Access The effects of synbiotics supplementationon reducing chemotherapy-induced side effects in women with breast cancer: a randomized placebo-controlled doubleblind clinical trial Yasaman Khazaei 1, Ali Basi2, Maria Luz Fernandez3, Hossein Foudazi4, Rafat Bagherzadeh5 and Farzad Shidfar 1* Abstract Background The prevalence of breast cancer and its mortality rate are increasing rapidly among women worldwide. On other hand, the courses of chemotherapy as the main treatment for these patients are too much exhaustive and annoying. This study was designed to evaluate the use of synbiotics (probiotics + prebiotics) supplementation as a safe and inexpensive adjuvant treatment in reducing common chemotherapy side effects in women with breast cancer. Methods The current study was conducted on 67 women with definitive diagnosis of breast cancer who were hospitalized to receive one-day chemotherapy sessions, and met the inclusion criteria. The patients were randomly allocated to the intervention or control group to receive synbiotics or placebo, respectively. They received oral consumption of synbiotics supplements twice a day for 8 weeks. The primary outcome was the changes in severity or experience of chemotherapy complication, analyzed by intention to treat (ITT) . The instruments included 7 validated questionnaires which were used to assess chemotherapy complications in the initiation, 4 weeks and 8 weeks after intervention. Dietary intake was measured by 24-h dietary recall at the beginning, week 4 and week 8. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 24. P-value < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results 67 breast cancer patients participated in the study. 8 weeks after intervention and adjusting the confounders, the severity of chemotherapy complications including unnormal defecation (P = 0 . 005) and fatigue (P < 0/001) decreased significantly in the synbiotics group compared to the placebo group. Furthermore, nausea/ vomiting (P = 0 . 015), and anorexia (P < 0. 001) were decreased at the end of the study compared to the first visit, but it was not statistically significant compared to the placebo group. Conclusions Synbiotics supplementation during chemotherapy can potentially reduce the severity of fatigue and abnormal defecation. It can help reduce anorexia and nausea/vomiting. *Correspondence: Farzad Shidfar[shidfar.f@iums.ac.ir](shidfar.f@iums.ac.ir) Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s) 2023. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit [http://creativecommons.org/l](http://creativecommons.org/l)icenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ([http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. Khazaei et al. BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies (2023) 23:339 Page 2 of 21 Trial Registratio

FAQs

What was the purpose of the study on synbiotics during chemotherapy?

To evaluate synbiotics (probiotics + prebiotics) supplementation as an adjuvant approach for reducing common chemotherapy side effects in women with breast cancer.

How was the trial designed and who participated?

The randomized, placebo-controlled double-blind clinical trial enrolled 67 women with confirmed breast cancer who were hospitalized for one-day chemotherapy sessions and met inclusion criteria.

Which chemotherapy side effects showed significant improvement with synbiotics?

After 8 weeks, severity of chemotherapy complications including abnormal defecation and fatigue decreased significantly compared with placebo; anorexia and nausea/vomiting improved compared with baseline, though the placebo comparison was not statistically significant.

Sep 24, 2026

Uploaded by Cipher