The association between probiotic food consumption, microbiota awareness and gastrointestinal symptoms among healthcare professionals: a cross-sectional study

The probiotic food consumption and microbiota awareness of healthcare professionals play a significant role in both their own health and public health. This is particularly noteworthy due to its effects on gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and general health. The aim of this study was to examine the probiotic food consumption, microbiota awareness and GI symptoms of healthcare professionals. The study was conducted with 305 healthcare professionals. An exploratory, analytical and cross-sectional design with a purposive sampling technique was used in the study. The data were collected through a questionnaire using a face-to-face method. The questionnaire consists of socio-demographic characteristics, probiotic food questionnaire, Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS) and Microbiota Awareness Scale (MAS). It was determined that the majority of healthcare professionals knew the term probiotic (86.2%) and obtained information about probiotic foods mostly from the internet (20.7%), pharmacy and sales points (20%) and experts (18.8%). With increasing frequency of probiotic food consumption of participants, it was determined that the MAS score increased (r = 0.246, p < 0.001), the GSRS score (r = − 0.119, p < 0.05) and the GSRS-abdominal pain score (r = − 0.184, p < 0.001) decreased. Healthcare professionals’ awareness of microbiota was found to be associated with probiotic food consumption and GI system symptoms. More comprehensive, experimental and long-term studies are needed for occupational health of health professionals.