Probiotics and prebiotics potential for the care of skin, female urogenital tract, and respiratory tract

Abstract

The prebiotics and probiotics market is constantly growing due to the positive effects of its consumption on human health, which extends beyond the digestive system. In addition, the synbiotic products market is also expanding due to the synergistic effects between pre-and probiotics that provide additional benefits to consumers. Pre-and probiotics are being evaluated for their effectiveness to treat and prevent infectious diseases in other parts of the human body where microbial communities exist. This review examines the scientific data related to the effects of pre-and probiotics on the treatment of diseases occurring in the skin, female urogenital tract, and respiratory tract. The evidence suggests that probiotics consumption can decrease the presence of eczema in children when their mothers have consumed probiotics during pregnancy and lactation. In women, probiotics consumption can effectively prevent recurrent urinary tract infections. The consumption of synbiotic products can reduce respiratory tract infections and their duration and severity. However, the outcomes of the meta-analyses are still limited and not sufficiently conclusive to support the use of probiotics to treat infectious diseases. This is largely a result of the limited number of studies, lack of standardization of the studies, and inconsistencies between the reported results. Therefore, it is advisable that future studies consider these shortcomings and include the evaluation of the combined use of pre-and probiotics.

The potential application of probiotics and prebiotics for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19

“…These beneficial microorganisms compete with pathogens concerning the colonization of human cells in different organs to promote host health. This requires high numbers of beneficial microorganisms, and any imbalance or disruption of this system may cause dysbiosis, which can allow pathogens to cause diseases such as respiratory tract infections 20,22 . Dysbiosis can also be caused by long-term antibiotic use.…”

“…The approved health benefits include reducing symptoms of lactose intolerance by improving lactose digestion, inhibiting the initiation of allergic diseases, maintaining intestinal pH, preventing or treating ischemic heart syndromes, reducing blood cholesterol levels, producing vitamins B, improving the bioavailability of dietary calcium, and boosting immune activity. Meanwhile, other potential health benefits such as the treatment of acute diarrheal diseases and prevention of cancer and tooth decay require additional research for validation 22 .…”

“…The microbial communities (bacteria, fungi, archaea, viruses, and protozoa) in the human GI tract, lungs, skin, and mouth exist in a commensal relationship with host cells, thereby playing a major role in human health 22 , 23 . The commensal bacteria (1 × 10 13 CFU) that are present in the GI tract are equivalent to the number of human cells 24 .…”

Prebióticos e probióticos na saúde e no tratamento de doenças intestinais: uma revisão integrativa

“…O efeito dos probióticos, bem como dos prebióticos, na saúde humana são confirmados para uma diversidade de condições clínicas (Didari et al, 2014;Sant'Anna et al, 2015;Nath et al, 2018;Bustamante et al, 2020), tendo em vista a capacidade de restaurarem o equilíbrio do ecossistema intestinal e mostrarem-se como uma nova estratégia de promoção da saúde (Martín & Langella, 2019).…”

“…Entre os fatores ambientais e de estilo de vida, o padrão alimentar ocidental, caraterizado pelo elevado consumo de gorduras saturadas, ômega-6, carne vermelha, açúcar refinado e baixo consumo de frutas e verduras, por exemplo, é um tema que tem sido muito Development, v. 9, n. 10, e6459109071, 2020 (CC BY 4.0) | ISSN 2525-3409 | DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v9i10.9071 discutido e postulado no desenvolvimento de doenças crônicas de base inflamatória, tais como a doença inflamatória intestinal (Marion-Letellier et al, 2016) e doenças alérgicas, como a dermatite atópica (Bustamante et al, 2020).…”