Probiotics and its impact on Human Health

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Probiotics hold the key not just for better health and a stronger immune system, but also for healing digestive issues, mental health illness, and neurological disorders. The gut microenvironment has an effect on the nutrition, feed conversion and disease of the host, thereby maintaining the microbial ecology of the gut. During the periods of stress, illness or antibiotic treatment, the gut flora is often changed in favor of harmful bacteria that may cause diarrhea and loss of appetite. Overgrowth of the harmful bacteria and its subsequent invasion of the system lead to inflammatory, immunological, neurological and endocrinological problems. Induction of the growth of beneficial bacteria is one of the possible solutions to normalize the health conditions. This could be achieved by the supplementation of viable bacterial cells into the host. Probiotics can help to build up the beneficial bacterial flora in the intestine and completely exclude the pathogenic bacteria. These bacteria also release some enzymes which help in the digestion of the feed. A daily intake of 109-1010 colony forming units (CFU) viable cells has been shown to have positive effect on the host health. There are many microorganisms that could potentially function as probiotic, of which Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species are the most commonly used. Probiotics are live microorganisms thought to be beneficial to the host organism. According to the currently adopted definition by FAO/WHO, probiotics are live microorganisms, which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host.