New study: Probiotics help prevent and treat a variety of diseases

Chinese researchers have proposed the potential of applying probiotics in health care, releasing a systematic review of their action mechanism, according to a research published in the journal MedComm.

The gut microbiota and its homeostasis are important for human health. However, for some diseases involving the gut microbiota, current standard treatments can only relieve symptoms, making it impossible to address the underlying causes and even causing adverse effects such as disruptions in the gut microbiota. 

According to  Li Xiangkai, a professor at Lanzhou University's School of Life Sciences, probiotics, prebiotics and postbiotics help prevent and treat a variety of diseases, but they are now only available as dietary supplements rather than medicines, limiting their usage in medicine.

Researchers from Lanzhou University, Shandong University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Microbiology worked together to conduct the study by analyzing the importance of the gut microbiota in human health and the problems faced by existing medicines.

Based on animal models and clinical trials, researchers analyzed the importance of gut microbiota in human health. They also analyzed the current problems with traditional medicines, and systematically summarize the effectiveness and mechanisms of probiotics, prebiotics and postbiotics in maintaining health and treating diseases. 

The researchers also analyzed the challenges to and prospects of such clinical application in maintaining health and alleviating and treating diseases, and proposed the concept of "probacine" for further exploration.

Researchers said probiotics research holds a lot of potential and enthusiasm. Probiotics, prebiotics and postbiotics will play an even more important part in clinical treatments in the future, according to current research and clinical evidence, and may become the next generation of representative medicines that will transform the way we treat and manage diseases.

(With input from Xinhua. Cover image via VCG)