Probiotics Intervention in Woman Health: Unexpected Acquaintance

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Probiotics Intervention in Woman Health: Unexpected Acquaintance

Journal Title: Interventions in Gynaecology and Women’s Healthcare - Year 2018, Vol 2, Issue 1

Abstract

There is growing interest in health promoting benefits of probiotics as bio therapeutic agents. Probioticsare used to treat recurrent urinary tract infections, diabetes, diarrhoea, vulvovaginal candidiasis and bacterial vaginosis in women. Probiotics exert their positive effects through various mechanisms, including lowering intestinal pH, decreasing colonization and invasion by pathogenic organisms, and modifying the host immune response. There is no agreement about the minimum number of microorganisms that must be consumed to obtain a beneficial effect; however, a probiotic should typically contain several billion microorganisms to increase the chance that adequate gut colonization will occur. This review presents mechanisms of action of probiotics and briefly examines the recent developments in use of probiotics in treating both infectious and non-infectious diseases in relation to women’s health. We conclude with suggestions for future work and possible applications probiotic research. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2001 defines probiotics as live micro-organisms that, “...when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host [1]”.The term came into more common use after 1980. Human probiotics market size is anticipated to surpass USD 5 billion by 2024 [2] owing to its application outlook in foods & beverages, dairy & non-dairy products and fermented meat products to enhance the immunity system and improve the digestive health. These products help in curing immune response, pathogen inhibition, urogenital infections and digestive disorders in adults and nosocomial infections in infants. The outline of the concept (but not the term) is generally attributed to Nobel laureate Élie Metchnikoff, who postulated that yogurt-consuming Bulgarian peasants lived longer lives because of this custom [3]. Medical conditions that have been reportedly treated or have the potential to be treated with probiotics include diarrhoea, gastroenteritis, irritable bowel syndrome, and inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis), cancer, depressed immune function, inadequate lactase digestion, infant allergies, failure-to-thrive, hyperlipidemia, hepatic diseases, Helicobacter pylori infections, genitourinary tract infections, and others [4,5]. Today, we live in an era of potentially tragic microbiological resistance to antibiotics [6]. With our progressively greater understanding of the influence of probiotics upon inflammation and the immune system, we have entered an era where an ideal climate prevails for the clinical extrapolation of in vitro experimentation to in vivo trials and treatments [7]. This review will endeavour to focus the use of probiotics in both infectious and non-infectious diseases in relation to women’s health. The content of this review was obtained using the search terms probiotic(s), pregnancy, women’s health and gynaecology within the Mendeley, PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE and Google Scholar data base.

Authors and Affiliations

Krishna Suresh Babu Naidu

Keywords

EP ID EP573200
DOI 10.32474/IGWHC.2018.02.000130
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