Symbiosis – A Friendly Relationship between Man and Microbes

A number of studies have been carried out on the effect of several beneficial microbes on treatment and prevention of several diseases. Generally microbes causes various diseases to humans, upon this there are some beneficial bacteria which can cure certain diseases. Some of the dietary supplements containing potentially beneficial bacteria or yeast, like probiotics are used to cure some diseases. These live-organisms after introducing into intestinal flora cannot survive for longtime. So in order to meet this problem prebiotics are included along with probiotics. These prebiotics are the non-digestible food ingredients that reach the colon intact, where they can be fermented preferentially by beneficial groups of bacteria.

As probiotics are mainly active in the small intestine and prebiotics are only effective in large intestine, the combination of the two may give a synergistic effect and this gives synbiotic product. Probiotics, prebiotics and symbiotic aimed at improving intestinal health currently represent the largest segment of the functional food market. These are also applicable for irritable bowel syndrome, prevents harmful bacterial growth, reducing inflammation, improving immune functions, lowering blood pressure, cholesterol lowering, prevention of colon cancer, managing lactose intolerance. Yogurt the oldest health promoting food is still widely used way to increase the number of advantageous bacteria in the intestinal tract. The most commonly used microbes are lactic acid producing bacteria such as lactobacilli and bifidobacteria belonging to the human normal microflora.The optimal strains should be developed further and introduced into the products for special functional properties and health outcomes.