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
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
173
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)
Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board
Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan, United Kingdom
Quality of Life changes
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
Time frame: 60 days
Change in Absenteeism
Weekly questionnaires via an app relating to any absences from work over a week period
Time frame: 60 days
Changes in gut symptoms and overall health
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)
Time frame: 60 days
Feasibility of app-based probiotic studies
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
Time frame: 60 days
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