Probiotic

Probiotics are live microorganisms that are intended to support or improve the health and wellbeing of a host organism. They are commonly used in both humans and animals. Although the term refers to the microorganisms themselves, probiotics can be consumed through a range of products including yogurt, cheese, certain fermented foods (such as nattō), as well as capsules containing a single strain or a defined mixture of strains. Probiotics are regarded as generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which supports their safety when used as intended, although this designation does not establish their effectiveness or specific health benefits. Many claimed health benefits, such as treating eczema or curing vaginal infections, lack substantial scientific support. The first discovered probiotic was a certain strain of bacillus in Bulgarian yoghurt, called Lactobacillus bulgaricus. The discovery was made in 1905 by Bulgarian physician and microbiologist Stamen Grigorov. The modern-day theory is generally attributed to Russian Nobel Prize laureate Élie Metchnikoff, who postulated around 1907 that yoghurt-consuming Bulgarian peasants lived longer. A growing probiotics market has led to the need for stricter requirements for scientific substantiation of putative benefits conferred by microorganisms claimed to be probiotic.…

Probiotics are live microorganisms that are intended to support or improve the health and wellbeing of a host organism. They are commonly used in both humans and animals. Although the term refers to the microorganisms themselves, probiotics can be consumed through a range of products including yogurt, cheese, certain fermented foods (such as nattō), as well as capsules containing a single strain or a defined mixture of strains. Probiotics are regarded as generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which supports their safety when used as intended, although this designation does not establish their effectiveness or specific health benefits. Many claimed health benefits, such as treating eczema or curing vaginal infections, lack substantial scientific support. The first discovered probiotic was a certain strain of bacillus in Bulgarian yoghurt, called Lactobacillus bulgaricus. The discovery was made in 1905 by Bulgarian physician and microbiologist Stamen Grigorov. The modern-day theory is generally attributed to Russian Nobel Prize laureate Élie Metchnikoff, who postulated around 1907 that yoghurt-consuming Bulgarian peasants lived longer. A growing probiotics market has led to the need for stricter requirements for scientific substantiation of putative benefits conferred by microorganisms claimed to be probiotic. Although some evidence claimed benefits are marketed towards using probiotic, such as reducing gastrointestinal discomfort, improving immune health, relieving constipation, or avoiding the common cold, such claims are strain-specific and cannot be extrapolated to other strains. As of 2019, numerous applications for approval of health claims by European manufacturers of probiotic dietary supplements have been rejected by the European Food Safety Authority for insufficient evidence of beneficial mechanism or efficacy.

Consumption

In 2015, the global retail market value for probiotics was US$41 billion, including sales of probiotic supplements, fermented milk products, and yogurt, which alone accounted for 75% of total consumption. Innovation in probiotic products in 2015 was mainly from supplements, which produced US$4 billion and was projected to grow 37% globally by 2020. Consumption of yogurt products in China has increased by 20% per year since 2014.

Cholesterol

A 2002 meta-analysis that included five double-blind trials examining the short-term (2–8 weeks) effects of a yogurt with probiotic strains on serum cholesterol levels found little effect of 8.5 mg/dL (0.22 mmol/L) (4% decrease) in total cholesterol concentration, and a decrease of 7.7 mg/dL (0.2 mmol/L) (5% decrease) in serum LDL concentration.

Pregnancy

A Cochrane systematic review found no good evidence that probiotics were of benefit in reducing the risk of gestational diabetes, but good evidence that they increased the risk of pre-eclampsia. For this reason, the use of probiotics in pregnancy was advised against.

Dry eye

A clinical study investigating the impact of probiotics in relieving the signs and symptoms of dry eye revealed promising results for the ophthalmic formulation of Latilactobacillus sakei, while the oral probiotic demonstrated no discernible benefits.

Storage temperature

Multiple studies have shown that there is a significant difference in the survival rate of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium under refrigerated (4 °C) and room temperature (25 °C) storage conditions. At room temperature (25±1 °C), the number of probiotics decreased by 5 to 6 logarithmic units (down to 1/100,000) after 90 days of storage. In contrast, no significant change in the number of probiotics was observed under refrigerated conditions (4 ± 1 °C).

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1377857995 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.