Probiotics - The Road Map The path defined by the probiotics road map began in the mist of time. Almost stationary for over four millenia, the first discernable change occurred in the mid 16th C. Progress thereafter was stimulated by series of very important steps in the development of general science. The timely arrival of a giant advocate at the end of 19th C led directly to spasmodic series of developments in Europe, followed by USA and thence to Japan where it largely remained until 1974 when Parker gave identity and visibility to that small, remarkable, highly specific range of bacteria with important common properties, by naming them ˝probiotics˝.

Do probiotic preparations for humans really have efficiacy? Microbial ecology studies have provided convincing evidence for the crosstalk between members of the autochthonous microbiota and the host immune system. The tight interrelationship between microbiota and host mucosal cells are mediated by microbial metabolites that are responsible for bacterial cell-to-cell communication by quorum-sensing mechanisms and also through the activation of eukaryotic cells following secretion of host defensins and modulation of cytokine expression profiles. All these host functions can be positively influenced by probiotic bacteria of human origin. However, few requirements for evaluating these strains for use in humans have been set according to their composition and metabolic activity. In this article, we have reported the scientific data published to date on the advantages of either mono- or multispecies probiotic products based on the outcome of the most significant clinical trials. According to published clinical trials, the efficacy of probiotic intervention for infectious or antimicrobial treatment-induced diarrhea, caused by different opportunistic bacterial or viral pathogens, was 48%. The probiotic preparations’ efficacy for silencing the clinical symptoms of IBS was 75% and for attenuating the inflammatory response during IBD was 83% whereas multistrain probiotics appear to have better efficacy.

PROBIOTIC POTENTIAL OF BACTERIAL SPECIES FROM NATURAL SOURCES The Lactic Acid Bacteria from infant feces was identified as Enterococcus feacium and the spore former from cow’s milk was identified as Bacillus subtilis. Infant gut microflora and body fluids such as milk are rich sources of potent probiotic strains...

Probiotics Normalize Bowel Flora and Improve Liver Enzymes in Human Alcohol-Induced Liver Injury ackground and Aims: Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States and worldwide. Alcoholic hepatitis occurs in...

Swine Flu and LPS Bacteria – a deadly combination? Scientific reasons why swine flu needs to be accepted seriously In response to the rise in the number of confirmed cases of swine influenza A (H1N1) reported in the United States, Mexico and around the world, the Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency...

Health Promoting Properties of Fermented Foods Indigenous To Nigeria Fermentation is one of the classic methods to preserve foods. Different cultures around the world have one fermented product or the other.