Diet and Functional Foods in Treatment and Maintenance Therapy of Colon Disorders

Dietary habits have been associated with variations in the risk of colon disorders, either its increase or decrease. Colon-specific approaches showed their potential to target and treat colon cancers and inflammatory diseases, but they vary in success rates for local recurrence, disease-free survival, and overall survival. Also, chemotherapies and radiotherapies have been applied as the surgical adjuvant treatments. The significant role of exogenously administered Lactobacilli in reducing toxin-producing bacteria in the gut and increases the longevity of the host, led to the coining of the term ‘probiotics’. The evidence on the effects of inulin and oligofructose on colonization, translocation of pathogens and the prevention of intestinal diseases make them suitable candidates to treat colon disorders. Among potentially protective foods, growing attention has been dedicated to functional foods comprising probiotics, such as Lactobacilli or Bifidobacteria, and prebiotics such as fructooligosaccharides or fructans, as their consumption may treat inflammatory bowel diseases, like ulcerative colitis, crohn’s disease as well as experimentally induced colon cancer in mammals. The readily apparent synergy of concomitantly using beneficial microorganisms and nutritive materials that support their growth led to the term “synbiotics” to describe foods or supplements that combine both probiotics and prebiotics. Various potential mechanisms are addressed in the present paper. This article discusses the real value of dietary components, which offers practical information to help patients as well as health professionals. Furthermore, article has focused on the possible value of probiotics, prebiotics and synbiotics in treatment and maintenance therapy of colonic ailments.