Well-Being, Psychological
Conditions
Keywords
Probiotic, Well-being, Absenteeism
Brief summary
The health and wellbeing of any workforce is a core priority and taking steps to ensure the wellbeing of employees is an important part of everyday working life. Winter is a time of particular challenge and is linked to increased absenteeism. There is a growing awareness that probiotics (similar to the bacteria found in yogurts) can play a role in boosting general wellbeing. Probiotics are known as 'good' or 'friendly' bacteria and are living organisms that are found naturally in yogurt and fermented foods. They can be capsules, tablets or powders in sachets that are taken daily to help to keep the gut in peak condition. Everyone has trillions of bacteria in their guts living together happily and they are needed to boost our wellbeing but the stresses and strains of everyday life can often disturb their balance, probiotics can help to restore the balance. Over the winter of 2022, a small exploratory study with employees based in South Wales who were offered the opportunity to 'try out' a probiotic manufactured by Cultech Limited (a company based in Port Talbot specialising in the production of nutritional supplements). The results were very promising with significant improvements in wellbeing and reduced absenteeism among those who opted to take the product. This project is designed as a follow-up on last year's exploratory study to further assess effectiveness of the same probiotic nutritional supplement over the winter
Interventions
DIETARY_SUPPLEMENTLab4P
Multi-strain Probiotic Product: Lactobacillus acidophilus CUL-60, Lactobacillus acidophilus CUL-21, Lactobacillus plantarum CUL-66, Bifidobacterium bifidum CUL-20, Bifidobacterium animalis subsp lactis CUL-34 (total 50 billion bacteria), Vitamin D (400 IU), Vitamin C (80 mg) & Zinc (10 mg)
Sponsors
Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust
Cultech Ltd
Cwm Taf University Health Board (NHS)
Study design
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 60 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
1. Aged 18 - 60 (at the time of consent) 2. Working in an NHS healthcare setting 3. Willing to use the Trialflare app on personal phone to record data securely 4. Able to understand and communicate using the English language 5. Normal or corrected to normal vision 6 Happy to take no other probiotics during study 7\. Able to continue with normal lifestyle throughout 8. Able to consent to take part in the study
Exclusion criteria
1. Immunodeficient 2. Taking probiotics or have taken within the last month 3. Allergic or suspected allergy to zinc
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Quality of Life changes | 60 days | Weekly questionnaires via an app containing questions relating to the participant's quality of life (i.e. mood, sleep, energy levels) over a week period |
| Change in Absenteeism | 60 days | Weekly questionnaires via an app relating to any absences from work over a week period |
| Changes in gut symptoms and overall health | 60 days | Weekly questionnaires via an app containing questions on the number of days participants may have experiences gut related symptoms (i.e. bloating, constipation, diarrhoea, stomach pain), and overall health (i.e. headaches, coughs, sore thorat) |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Feasibility of app-based probiotic studies | 60 days | To gain an understanding of the level of interest amongst the workforce to take part in probiotic studies and use of an app to monitor well-being. Measured through levels of sign-up, collection of intervention and drop-out rate over the course of the trial. All which will be measured through the app |
Countries
United Kingdom
Outcome results
None listed