This is not really great. It is interesting, but a bit dated an limited. Good info for anyone who was not already aware the some probiotics were often helpful in the context of IBD. Not not much new information here.
I use Align, and am about to get some VSL3. When I 1st tried several OTC probiotics,they made my symptoms worse. I suspect this is because my bowel just needed to rest and my immune system initially got even more aroused by all the new bacteria. Once my colon cooled a bit, I tolerated Align pretty well, but am not sure how much good it is doing versus other treatments and diet modifications I have. The general theory that probiotics 1) crowd out more hurtful bacteria, and 2) may help condition the mucosal lining, make sense. So, as long as they don't worsen my symptoms I figure why not take them. (Although I do wory that the coating of slippery elm may cancel out the opportunity for probiotics to work on the mucosal lining.)
In the case of this WebMD story, we have a "technical writer" of unknown training, summarizing complex medical literature, for a free website. In this case, the article summarized is 6 years old, and much more has been learned. Also even though the article says "The influence of stress on chronic intestinal disorders is "well documented," they write, spotlighting irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis." The actual article does not say exactly what was reported. The discussion section of the article also cites studies that found chronic stress made relapse more likely in UC and made IBD symptoms more severe - but this is not the same as causing UC in the 1st place.
The article in GUT notes 1) the documentation for stress and IBS, which fits the definition of IBS, and 2) they mention that probiotics have been investigated in studies of IBD, providing a few citations. But the citations, while on average favorable, are mixed in their results. The particular probiotic, and the stage of the disease, and other factors are important too. The never reported findings that stress led to IBD. The reporter simplified and glossed over too much. Also, they still have very poor understandign of how probiotics are doing what they seem to be doing.
The study in question did find that rats prophylacticlly treated with a probiotic before and during a period of mild daily stress had 1) less bacteria of any sort sticking to the mucosal lining (sticking=bad), and 2) more integrity (less leaking of toxins) of the mucosal lining. Both of these conditions are theoretically linked to inflammation which is at the root of UC, but this is far from showing a causal link of stress to UC.
The rats also had the probiotics for 17 days before these benefits were observed. It is very unlikely, given the processes and reactions that have to happen (i.e., colonization, immune system response), that probiotics could be responsible for overnight dramatic improvement of UC, nor for next day symptoms if probiotics are stopped. Anything happening that fast has to be a placebo effect or a coincidence. Only antihistamines and steroids work that fast - and 24 hours is pushing it for steroids.
We need to be careful not to project all kinds of anecdote onto imprecisely communicated research findings. Also, look for stuff that is one year old and not 5 or 10. Stress modulates the immune system and elicits cortisol responses. It makes sense the UC may wax and wane with stress because UC is autoimmune response.
Managing stress well may mediate symptoms (especially in mild/moderate UC) and may prolong remission periods. But there is no proof that stress causes UC, or even more importantly that eliminating stress will erase UC.