Current trends and future perspectives of probiotics on human health: an overview

Probiotics are live microorganisms that act as food supplements that have beneficial effects within-host by influencing and establishing a friendly gut microflora. The most common commercially available probiotic strains belong to the species of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. The human gastrointestinal tract is also a reservoir of probiotic organisms. Alteration of the gut microbiota often leads to the disruption of host–microbial interactions and influences disease conditions (dysbiosis). Gut microflora with enriched probiotic organisms has profound impacts on immune function, digestion, and metabolism. Recently, the term “next-generation probiotics” has been introduced to describe some new strains, namely, Akkermansia, Bacteroides, Faecalibacterium, and sometimes genetically modified organisms. The prospect of such probiotics has been discussed in this chapter.