Living medicines for health and disease management

Abstract

Consumption of probiotics in the form of fermented products has a long history. Since the last two decades, probiotics has gained the attention of the scientific community because of their health beneficial effects. Positive effects of probiotics on metabolic disorders such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, immune diseases, obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance, cardiovascular disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and inflammatory bowel disease have been reported, but exact mechanism of action of probiotics in amelioration of these disorders is yet to be elucidated. Generally, genera Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium are employed as probiotics. Different probiotics act differently in conferring health beneficial effects. Moreover, health-promoting effects of probiotics are dependent on the strain. Furthermore, probiotic dosages, feeding schedule, mechanism of action, and long-term effects on health are yet to be elucidated. Therefore, further studies are required to explain the health beneficial effects of probiotics before it can be rationally prescribed to patients. In this chapter, we will discuss about role of probiotics in the prevention and treatment of various metabolic disorders.