Weaning during infancy refers to the initiation of complementary food to breast milk. During weaning, there are significant changes on the gastrointestinal microbiota. Deleterious alterations of the gastrointestinal microbiota can result in pathological processes while measures that stimulate its development and stability, like the use of probiotics, are beneficial. The mechanisms by which prob...

OBJECTIVE To perform a pilot project to determine if this research design was appropriate to explore potential causal relationships between oral probiotic use and vaginal Group B Streptococcal (GBS) colonisation rates in pregnant women. METHOD Thirty-four GBS-positive women at 36 weeks pregnant were recruited. The participants were randomly allocated to the control group, who received standar...

The use of probiotics and synbiotics in the prevention and treatment of different disorders has dramatically increased over the last decade. Both probiotics and synbiotics are well known ingredients of functional foods and nutraceuticals and may provide beneficial health effects because they can influence the intestinal microbial ecology and immunity. The present study reviews the effects of pr...

Probiotics are defined as microbial food supplements which beneficially affect the host animal by improving its intestinal microbial balance. The probiotics were improved feed conversion for the target species, reduced morbidity or mortality and benefits for the consumer through improved product quality. In this study, we found that a combination of probiotics with different mechanisms of actio...

Probiotics are dietary supplements containing potentially beneficial bacteria or yeasts. Probiotics are live microorganisms thought to be beneficial to the host organism and, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host. Lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria are the most common types of microbes used as probiotics. Probiotics strengthen the immune system to comba...

Oxidative stress defines a condition in which the prooxidant-antioxidant balance in the cell is disturbed, resulting in DNA hydroxylation, protein denaturation, lipid peroxidation, and apoptosis, ultimately compromising cells' viability. Probiotics have been known for many beneficial health effects, and the consumption of probiotics alone or in food shows that strain-specific probiotics can pre...

Probiotics utilize naturally occurring bacteria to confer a health benefits when administered in adequate amounts. A few conventional foods containing probiotics are yogurt, fermented and unfermented milk, soya beverages etc. Most often , they come from two groups of bacteria, Lactobacillus or Bifidobacterium. Probiotics have been extensively studied for their health promoting effects. Scientif...

BACKGROUND Probiotics are microorganisms that are ingested either in combination or as a single organism in an effort to normalize intestinal microbiota and potentially improve intestinal barrier function. Recent evidence has suggested that inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may result from an inappropriate immunologic response to intestinal bacteria and a disruption in the balance of the gastroi...

Probiotic bacteria are sold mainly in fermented foods, and dairy products play a predominant role as carriers of probiotics. Functional dairy foods are well suited to promoting the positive health image of probiotics for several reasons: (i) fermented foods and dairy products in particular, already have a positive health image by their traditional use for centuries; (ii) people are familiar wit...

Medicinal plants and probiotics both have very high potential in terms of their antimicrobial activity against antibiotic-resistant enteric pathogens. The probiotics being enteric microorganism do not have any parasitic effect on human beings. They have been an integral part of daily food for centuries. They have been shown to have health beneficiary properties. The probiotics retard the growth...