Probiotics Intervention in Woman Health: Unexpected Acquaintance

Abstract

There is growing interest in health promoting benefits of probiotics as bio therapeutic agents. Probioticsare used to treat recurrent urinary tract infections, diabetes, diarrhoea, vulvovaginal candidiasis and bacterial vaginosis in women. Probiotics exert their positive effects through various mechanisms, including lowering intestinal pH, decreasing colonization and invasion by pathogenic organisms, and modifying the host immune response. There is no agreement about the minimum number of microorganisms that must be consumed to obtain a beneficial effect; however, a probiotic should typically contain several billion microorganisms to increase the chance that adequate gut colonization will occur. This review presents mechanisms of action of probiotics and briefly examines the recent developments in use of probiotics in treating both infectious and non-infectious diseases in relation to women’s health. We conclude with suggestions for future work and possible applications probiotic research.