A new study indicates adding a bovine protein called lactoferrin to the existing approaches used to treat Helicobacter pylori infection may yield more effective results. H. pylori is a bacteria in the stomach associated with duodenal ulcers, gastric ulcers, stomach cancer, non-ulcer dyspepsia and other gastrointestinal disorders.

Lactoferrin has previously been found to be effective at inhibiting the growth of microorganisms and reducing the side effects of antibiotics, respectively, but the new study marks the first time that they have been used together to treat H. pylori. The study found that the infection-causing bacterium was eliminated in more patients treated with the traditional therapy plus lactoferrin than with the existing treatments and may be used without risk of resistance.

The study has been published in the May 2007 issue of The American Journal of Gastroenterology.

Source: Blackwell Publishing