The Probiotic L. casei Zhang Slows the Progression of Acute and Chronic Kidney Disease

We recruited non-dialytic patients of CKD stage 3-5 from outpatient division and ward of department of nephrology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical college, Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China. In the following 3 months, intervention agent was given to patients on daily basis: patients of the probiotic group were given freeze-dried powder containing 4*1e9 CFU L. casei Zhang per sachet, and those of the placebo group were given formulation with identical appearance and taste but only containing carrier substance (brown rice powder and maltodextrin). We performed metagenomic sequencing analyses of fecal samples from these individuals before and after treatment with placebo or probiotic.