Essay on Differences in Probiotics

If you have had recurrent infections and taken antibiotics repeatedly to treat them, you may need to repair your gut. Your gut contains around 70 percent of the immune cells active in your body at any given time, and gut flora play a role in your immune function. Antibiotics kill not only bad bacteria, but also good ones. Probiotics can help your gut recover from the abuse so your immune function can recover from having taken

A healthy adult has over 1000 species of bacteria residing in the gut (1). There is great diversity in genera of these bacteria, however the most

The health benefits of maintaining bacteria in the gut are a topic of interest. Grocery store shelves are stocked with probiotic goods such

If you're like many other people (including myself till I started researching this), you might only have a vague idea about what a healthy gut is. You likely know there are bacteria in your gut, that antibiotics destroy those bacteria and that you need to eat yogurt to put those bacteria back. You likely don't know you need to eat special yogurt containing active live cultures to bring bacteria back in your

Our formula also contains prebiotics. These guys are what feed the good microbes and help them repopulate. So, while the probiotic is kicking the bad microbes’ butt, our prebiotics, which use a unique combination of Mannan-oligosaccharide (don’t even try to pronounce it) feed the good guys helping them do their job more efficiently.

More than a century ago the notion of microbiota working as a regulator for health and disease was already in use. They realized that consuming large amounts of fermented milk helped with their longevity. This began the foundation of probiotics. However, the oral probiotics that are used today are at a lower amount than what is contained in the colon. After cycling through the digestive system it is

Probiotics, literally meaning pro life, is the name given to a group of live beneficial microorganisms found today in many foods as well as in supplement form. Examples of probiotics include Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidum bacterium and Bifidus regularis. Our bodies are already comprised of the beneficial microorganisms found in probiotics but external factors often significantly reduce or eliminate

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a healthcare associated infection with significant morbidity and mortality, especially in elderly, hospitalized patients. Antibiotic associated diarrhea (AAD) is also a complication of antibiotic therapy with detrimental effects in hospitalized patients. The use of probiotics for primary prophylaxis of AAD and CDI in hospitalized patients is still controversial. Varying study quality as well as significant heterogeneity make drawing conclusions from prior literature a difficult task. This study was the largest to date examining the efficacy of probiotics in preventing AAD and CDI in hospitalized older patients in the United Kingdom.

The good gut microbes are a powerful line of defense against pathogens and germs and also prevent the overgrowth of harmful microbes such as bacteria, yeasts and parasites, making healthy bacteria vital for a strong immune system.

The use of the first form of microbe-based therapeutics, probiotics, is beneficial for preventing disease. These live microorganisms are known to strengthen the equilibrium of the gut flora by the development of healthy gut

In 1953, Kollath introduced the term ‘probiotic’. Etymologically, the term ‘probiotic’ is originated from the hybridization of Greek words ‘προ’ and ‘βιοτος’, which brough the meaning of ‘for life’. In 1953, the term ‘probiotic’ was introduced by Kollath as “organic and inorganic supplements necessary to restore health to patients suffering a form of malnutrition resulting from eating too much highly refined food” (Hamilton-Miller et al., 2003). The probiotic word has evolved throughout the years. As indicated by the World Health Organization (WHO), probiotics are characterized as "live microorganisms that able to provide advantage to the host when consume in adequate amount (World Health Organization [WHO], 2001). Probiotics also classified

The use of probiotics falls under the term “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM), a term that encompasses a large number of different health care practices and products that are used with, or in place of, conventional medicine. CAM is the main focus of the National Center of Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), a center within the National Institutes of Health, which is itself an agency of the U.S. Department of Health. [1] The NCCIH’s role is to define the usefulness and safety of CAM and the role it has on improving health and healthcare practices. [2] However, the NCCIH does not provide any regulation on the use of CAM practices or products.

Currently, the type Bifidobacterium includes 32 species. They natural environment is in the gastrointestinal tract of humans and animals where it may occur in a number of 1012 cells per 1 g of the intestinal content. In addition, they are presented in the mucous membranes of the mouth and of the reproductive tract. Within human intestines the most popular species are B. adolescentis, B. angulatum, B. bifidum, B. brevi, B. catenulatum, B. langum, and B.infantis. Microorganisms that are classified as the genus Bifidobacterium belong to the lactic acid bacteria family. It includes rods and coccus Gram-positive bacteria belonging to other genera, among which the most important are Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, Lactococcus, Enterococcus, and Leuconostoc. All bacteria belonging to this group are characterized by the metabolism of fermentation where the main end product of metabolism of sugars is lactic acid. These microorganisms metabolize in the process of lactic fermentation simple sugars, disaccharides and some complex

L. bulgaricus are used as starter cultures during yogurt fermentation and are regarded as probiotics (Perna et al, 2008)

Although lactobacillus plantarum cost are higher this certain strain of lactobacillus is specifically engineered to have more commercial benefits.