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Probiotics and Inflammatory Bowel Disease

2003; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 96; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/014107680309600403

1758-1095

Daisy Jonkers, Reinhold W. Stockbrügger,

Digestive system and related health

Probiotics are defined as ‘mono- or mixed cultures of live micro-organisms which, when applied to animal or man, beneficially affect the host by improving the properties of the indigenous microflora’.1 Both Lactobacilli spp. and Bifidobacterium spp. are frequently applied as probiotics. Probiotic bacteria for humans are preferably of human origin: they have to be safe for the host, genetically stable, and capable of surviving passage through the gastrointestinal tract.2 Among the effects claimed for probiotics are beneficial immunomodulation, reduction of serum cholesterol, improved lactose digestion and protection against colon cancer.2,3 Probiotics have also been studied in infectious diarrhoea, inflammatory bowel disease and pouchitis.3,4 In this review we focus on the possible value of probiotics in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).