To date, no study aimed to clinically evaluate the use of probiotics in patients with celiac disease has met its primary outcome. Patients with untreated celiac disease administered Bifidobacterium infantis did not have an improvement in intestinal permeability compared to patients with untreated celiac disease who received placebo. Patients with celiac disease with persistent symptoms despite a gluten-free diet treated with VSL #3 were found to have a fecal microbiota (distribution of microbes in the stool, which is thought to be fairly representative of that of the intestine) that was not significantly different than patients treated with placebo.
Finally, the possibility of probiotics aiding in gluten digestion seems slim given the recent failure of a mixture of two gluten-targeting enzymes to significantly alter the intestinal healing process in patients with celiac disease in a phase 3 study.