Probiotics

Microorganisms play a vital role directly or indirectly in our life. They may be beneficial or harmful for human beings. One of the beneficial uses of microorganisms is their application and use for industrial purposes to produce antibiotics and drugs. By administration of antibiotics/drugs for microbial infections and other diseases, patients get antibiotics/drugs induced digestive disorders and side effects. These problems have attracted scientists to explore a new approach for treatment which reduces the risk of digestive tract disorders in the host. Although Metchnikoff has given the concept of probiotics in the beginning of 19th century, recently scientists are in trend to use friendly microorganisms (Probiotics) individually or in combination (Like, Bacterial species Lactobacillus sporogenes, Lactobacillus Acidophillus, Lactobacillus plantarum, Bifidobacterium, and Yeast species Saccharomyces Boulardii and Saccharomyces cerevisiae etc.) along with the core drugs of related illnesses to reduce digestive disorders and for health improvement in the host animals. When live microorganisms are administered in an effective amount or numbers in the host, they confer health benefit on the host by maintaining the intestinal microbiota. The term Probiotic was derived from the Greek, meaning "for life." An expert panel commissioned by FAO and WHO defined probiotics as "Live microorganisms when administered in adequate amount confering a health benefit on the host." This definition should be used, and probiotics should not be referred to as bio-therapeutic agents.

Probiotics are of increasing use against intestinal disorders such as antibiotics based diarrhea and inflammatory bowel disease. They act as nonpathogenic stimuli within the gut to regain immunologic quiescence. Probiotics are also of great significance to subjects suffering from environmental illnesses by reducing the number and severity of food and allergens based allergies. Microbial probiotics have been reported to have many beneficial effects when they are used in animal feeds; these effects include competitive exclusion of pathogens and improved digestion and absorption of nutrients.

Although probiotics play key role in human/animal nutrition, their modes of action have not been resolute yet. But several mechanisms for instance; producing antimicrobial substances, stimulating mucus secretion, strengthening gut barriers function, competing for adhesion sites, stimulating specific and non specific immune responses; by which probiotics mediate their anti infection effects have been suggested.