Japanese Herbal Daikenchuto helpful for abdominal pain but not SIBO

Daikenchuto (DKT) is a very popular Japanese herbal medicine that is used to treat gastrointestinal disorders.   Typical of herbs not much scientific evidence can be found to confirm the efficacy of the treatment.  So a study, even if it is small (10 patients) is useful.  In this study, 10 patients were enrolled with chronic constipation and abdominal pain.  The patients were tested using the glucose hydrogen breath test for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) with 4 of them being positive.  After DKT treatment all the patients reported decreased constipation and abdominal pain.  However, it did not eradicate the SIBO.

Ref: Curr Ther Res Clin Exp,  May 2015

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27069528