Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2013 Jan 2:2013:481651.
doi: 10.5402/2013/481651. eCollection 2013.

Health benefits of probiotics: a review

Maria Kechagia  1 , Dimitrios Basoulis  2 , Stavroula Konstantopoulou  1 , Dimitra Dimitriadi  1 , Konstantina Gyftopoulou  1 , Nikoletta Skarmoutsou  1 , Eleni Maria Fakiri  1
Affiliations
Review

Health benefits of probiotics: a review

Maria Kechagia et al. ISRN Nutr. .

Abstract

Probiotic bacteria have become increasingly popular during the last two decades as a result of the continuously expanding scientific evidence pointing to their beneficial effects on human health. As a result they have been applied as various products with the food industry having been very active in studying and promoting them. Within this market the probiotics have been incorporated in various products, mainly fermented dairy foods. In light of this ongoing trend and despite the strong scientific evidence associating these microorganisms to various health benefits, further research is needed in order to establish them and evaluate their safety as well as their nutritional aspects. The purpose of this paper is to review the current documentation on the concept and the possible beneficial properties of probiotic bacteria in the literature, focusing on those available in food.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Ziemer CJ, Gibson GR. An overview of probiotics, prebiotics and synbiotics in the functional food concept: perspectives and future strategies. International Dairy Journal. 1998;8(5-6):473–479.
    1. Granato D, Branco GF, Nazzaro F, Cruz AG, Faria JA. Functional foods and nondairy probiotic food development: trends, concepts, and products. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety. 2010;9(3):292–302. - PubMed
    1. Toma MM, Pokrotnieks J. Probiotics as functional food: microbiological and medical aspects. Acta Universitatis. 2006;710:117–129.
    1. Salminen SJ, Gueimonde M, Isolauri E. Probiotics that modify disease risk. Journal of Nutrition. 2005;135(5):1294–1298. - PubMed
    1. Fuller R. Probiotics a Critical Review. Wymondham, UK: Horizon Scientific; 1999. Probiotics for farm animals; pp. 15–22.