DISCUSS AND ANALYZE THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF PROBIOTIC AND PREBIOTIC

Discuss and Analyze the Advantages and Disadvantages of Probiotic and Prebiotic

Table of Contents

Abstract3

Introduction5

Probiotics7

Disadvantages of Probiotics9

Improvement of functions10

Alleviation of lactose intolerance10

Immune enhancement10

Decrease in fecal enzymes and mutagenicity11

Hypocholesterolemic effect11

Reduction of risk of disease12

Prebiotics13

Disadvantages of Prebiotics16

Improvement of functions16

Fate in the gastrointestinal tract16

Effect on mineral absorption17

Effect on the metabolism of lipids19

Reducing disease risk21

Probiotics And Prebiotics As Functional Food Ingredients23

Improvement of functions23

Reduction of disease risk26

Findings27

Conclusion41

References44

Abstract

Probiotics are products aimed at delivering living bacterial cells to the gut ecosystem of humans and other animals, whereas prebiotics are non-digestible carbohydrates delivered in food to the large bowel to provide fermentable substrates for selected bacteria. Food scientists and nutritionists have accepted, relatively uncritically, the concepts underlying the use of probiotics and prebiotics in the promotion of health. Microbiologists and medical practitioners have viewed these products more sceptically. Much more scientific and medical validation of probiotic/prebiotic use is required. This will entail the use of sophisticated analytical methodologies. Knowledge of the gut microbiota has increased dramatically during the past decade thanks largely to the results obtained from the application of nucleic acid-based methodologies. Because of the availability of improved technologies, detailed studies of the two principal kinds of probiotic/prebiotic bacteria, members of the genera Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, can be made. While well-established scientists continue to make important contributions to probiotic/prebiotic research, it is notable that younger scholars are playing a vital role in developing scientific concepts related to the field. Several of these emerging leaders have contributed chapters to this book that therefore represents a state-of-the-art compendium of fundamental science related to early 21st century probiotic/prebiotic research.

Introduction

A probiotic is defined classically as a viable microbial dietary supplement that beneficially affects the host through its effects in the intestinal tract (Taylor, Williams, 2005). This definition, however, was initially intended for use with animal feed products. For human nutrition, the following definition has been proposed: "a live microbial food ingredient that is beneficial to health" (Tannock, 2005) .

A prebiotic is defined as "a nondigestible food ingredient that beneficially affects the host by selectively stimulating the growth and/or activity of one or a limited number of bacteria in the colon" . Modification by prebiotics of the composition of the colonic microflora leads to the predominance of a few of the potentially health-promoting bacteria, especially, but not exclusively, lactobacilli and bifidobacteria . As discussed elsewhere in this paper and as a working definition, a food can be said to be functional if it contains a component (which may or may not be a nutrient) that affects one or a limited number of functions in the body in a targeted way so as to have positive effects on health, or if it has a physiologic or psychologic effect beyond the traditional nutritional effect (Tannock, 2005).

Among the most promising targets for functional foods are the gastrointestinal functions, including those that control transit time, bowel habits, and mucosal motility as well as those that modulate epithelial cell proliferation. Promising targets are also gastrointestinal functions that are associated with ...