ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT04755673Updated Jan 12, 2023

Atrantil for Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth

An interventional study of Atrantil (Medical Food) in Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Bacterial Overgrowth Syndrome and SIBO, sponsored by Northwestern University. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-01-12.

Sponsored by Northwestern University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 4 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Sep 2020, registered Feb 2021).
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
40
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
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Study summary

Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (IBO) is a common functional condition due to excessive amounts of bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. These bacteria ferment ingested food resulting in the production of hydrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide which subsequently can induce GI symptoms including abdominal pain, bloating, distention, diarrhea and constipation. Typically this condition is treated with antibiotics but for a portion of patients symptoms often recur. Recent work suggests that increased methane production may emanate from overgrowth of a specific type of archaebacteria, causing the aforementioned symptoms. However, no current therapies exist to treat this phenomenon. The investigators propose to trial the supplement Atrantil on patients with IMO in order to study the supplements impact on symptoms, quality of life, and methane levels.

Read the detailed description

Intestinal microbial overgrowth is associated with multiple gastrointestinal symptoms. Most prevalent are gas-related symptoms (i.e. bloating, distention, increased flatus, constipation)

. Intestinal microbial overgrowth can currently be divided into two main subcategories: small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and intestinal methanogenic overgrowth (IMO). Both are most commonly detected via breath testing-a simple non-invasive study

  • Despite the increasing prevalence of this disorder few evidence-based therapeutics currently exist. SIBO, identified by elevations in breath hydrogen, has been shown to respond to treatment with antibiotics including rifaximin and doxycycline in clinical trials
  • However, IMO, detected by elevations in breath methane is a different disorder attributed to overgrowth of archaea which reside predominately in the colon
  • Currently, there are no evidence-based treatments for IMO, and the American College of Gastroenterology guideline on the diagnosis and treatment of SIBO makes no specific recommendations regarding the treatment of this disorder.

Atrantil is a medical food composed of peppermint, quebracho tree bark, and horse chestnut.

These components are purported to reduce methane production, scavenge hydrogen (thus reducing the building blocks for methane), and potentially act as a cidal agent for methanogenic archaea. In a small randomized controlled-trial, Atrantil reduced bloating and constipation in a population of individuals with irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C)

Given these initial results the investigators hypothesize that Atrantil may represent an inexpensive and safe treatment for patients with excessive methane production. Thus, the purpose of this study is to determine whether the holistic treatment, Atrantil, is beneficial for the treatment of IMO.

02

Conditions studied

  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome
  • Bacterial Overgrowth Syndrome
  • SIBO
03

In context

Irritable Bowel Syndrome

1,116 studies on the registry are indexed under Irritable Bowel Syndrome; 208 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 40 is below the median of 70 across 896 interventional studies indexed under Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Browse Irritable Bowel Syndrome studies →

Lead sponsor

Northwestern University is the lead sponsor of 1,423 studies on the registry; 198 are open to participants now.

Of its 105 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 78 (74%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  1. Participants must be able to provide
  2. Participants must be able to attend study visits
  3. Participants aged 18 years or greater
  4. Must have a diagnosis of Intestinal Methane Overgrowth based on North American Consensus/American College of Gastroenterology established cutoffs
  5. Participants must report current symptoms of bloating, distention, abdominal pain, abdominal discomfort and constipation
  6. Participant must be an established patient at Northwestern Memorial Hospital

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Participants who are already taking Atrantil
  2. Participants who are pregnant or breast-feeding
  3. Participants who cannot tolerate or are unwilling to complete a hydrogen-methane breath test at week 4.
  4. Inability to attend all study visits and complete survey data.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(1)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Other
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
40 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Experimental: Atrantil (Medical Food)

    All participants in the trial will take two capsules of Atrantil three times a day for 28 days.

    Other: Atrantil (Medical Food)

Interventions

  • OtherAtrantil (Medical Food)

    All participants will be given 28 days supply of Atrantil. The impact of the intervention will be measured by daily symptom surveys as well as a hydrogen methane breath test administered at the end of the 28 days of treatment to identify if methane levels have changed.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Change in clinical symptoms of Intestinal Methane Overgrowth as measured by daily Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) measuring pain, bloating, distention, and discomfort.

    Numeric Rating Scale is a four-item scale measuring the severity of pain, bloating, distention, and discomfort on a scale of 1 to 10 for each measure. Higher scores indicate a higher level of symptom severity. Lower scores indicate a lower level of symptom severity.

    Time frame: Daily for 28 days

  2. Change in clinical symptoms of Intestinal Methane Overgrowth as measured by Patient Reported Outcome Measures Information Systems Gastrointestinal Symptoms Scale (PROMIS-GI)

    PROMIS GI Scales is a collection of eight categories of GI-symptoms (Belly pain, Bowel Incontinence, Constipation, Diarrhea, Disrupted Swallowing, Gas and Bloating, Nausea and Vomiting, and Acid reflux) Higher scores indicate a higher level of symptom severity. Lower scores indicate a lower level of symptom severity.

    Time frame: Change from Baseline at four weeks.

  3. Change in clinical symptoms of Intestinal Methane Overgrowth as measured by the Bristol Stool Scale (BSS)

    BSS is a clinical tool that divides feces into 7 categories along the continuum severe constipation to severe diarrhea to demonstrate the effectiveness of a treatment

    Time frame: Change from Baseline at four weeks.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Change in quality of life as measured by Short Form- 12.

    SF-12 scale is a generic, multipurpose short-form survey with 12 questions selected from the SF-36 Health Survey to evaluate overall health-related quality of life. Answers are combined, scored and weighted into mental and physical functioning component scales. The scores for each scale range from 0 to 100. A higher value indicates a better quality of life of the patient.

    Time frame: Change from Baseline at four weeks.

  2. Change in Quality of life as measured by the PROMIS-Global Health (PROMIS-GH)

    PROMIS® Global Health Short Form (10 items). The 10 global health items include ratings of the five core PROMIS domains. It includes the most widely used self-rated health item (global01). PROMIS® includes a single item that provides a pure rating of physical health (global03) and another item for mental health (global04). Also included is an overall quality of life item (global02). The remaining items provide global ratings of physical function (global06), fatigue (global08), pain (global07), emotional distress (global10), and social health (global05 and global09). The 10 PROMIS® Global Health items each have 5 response choices, with the exception of the common 11-point pain intensity item ("How would you rate your pain on average" with 0=No pain and 10=Worst imaginable pain). Global 1-5, 9 range from 5 (Excellent) to 1 (Poor), with higher numbers meaning greater health. Certain items are restored (Global 7 such that 5=0 no pain, and 1=10 worst pain), Global8 (5=None, 1=Very Severe),

    Time frame: Change from Baseline at four weeks.

  3. Change in methane as measured by hydrogen methane breath-test pre and post-treatment.

    Methane levels equal to or more than 10 parts per million are considered abnormal and positive for intestinal methane overgrowth. Methane levels under 10 are considered normal and negative for intestinal methane overgrowth.

    Time frame: Post-Treatment (+-3 days)

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Northwestern Medicine Digestive Health Center
    Chicago, Illinois 60611, United States
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jan 12, 2023, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04755673
Responsible party
Darren Brenner (Associate Professor of Medicine and Surgery, Northwestern University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Feb 16, 2021
Start date
Sep 18, 2020
Primary completion
Sep 26, 2022
Completion
Sep 27, 2022
Last update
Jan 12, 2023

Study contacts

Darren Brenner, MD
principal investigator · Northwestern Memorial Hospital/Feinberg School of Medicine

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in Jan 2023. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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