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Review
. 2021 Jan;28(1):865-869.
doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2020.11.025. Epub 2020 Nov 9.

Probiotics, prebiotics, and COVID-19 infection: A review article

Jamal M A Khaled  1
Affiliations
Review

Probiotics, prebiotics, and COVID-19 infection: A review article

Jamal M A Khaled. Saudi J Biol Sci. 2021 Jan.

Abstract

The beneficial live microbes of humans and animals are termed probiotics, and the chemical compounds that improve the growth of probiotics are known as prebiotics. Paraprobiotics and postbiotics refer to dead or inactivated living cells of probiotics and healthful metabolic products that are produced by the living cells of probiotics, respectively. Although the healthful, functional, nutritional, and immune benefits of probiotics and prebiotics are scientifically well established beyond a reasonable doubt, their potential biological roles against COVID-19 infection still warrant further clinical and laboratory investigation.

Keywords: COVID-19; FAO, Food and Agriculture Organization; Paraprobiotics; Postbiotics; Prebiotics; Probiotics; SARS-CoV-2; WHO, World Health Organization.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The major differences among probiotics, prebiotics, paraprobiotics, and postbiotics.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The most efficient immunomodulatory tools applied for modifying the human immune response. The information is extracted from (Erickson and Hubbard, 2000, Gea-Banacloche, 2006).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Cytokine storm resulting from SARS-CoV-2 infection. The data are extracted from (Bhaskar et al., 2020).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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