RESUMEN
The interplay between human health and the microbiome has gained extensive attention, with probiotics emerging as pivotal therapeutic agents due to their vast potential in treating various health issues. As significant modulators of the gut microbiota, probiotics are crucial in maintaining intestinal homeostasis and enhancing the synthesis of short-chain fatty acids. Despite extensive research over the past decades, there remains an urgent need for a comprehensive and detailed review that encapsulates probiotics' latest insights and applications. This review focusses on the multifaceted roles of probiotics in promoting health and preventing disease, highlighting the complex mechanisms through which these beneficial bacteria influence both gut flora and the human body at large. This paper also explores probiotics' neurological and gastrointestinal applications, focussing on their significant impact on the gut-brain axis and their therapeutic potential in a broad spectrum of pathological conditions. Current innovations in probiotic formulations, mainly focusing on integrating genomics and biotechnological advancements, have also been comprehensively discussed herein. This paper also critically examines the regulatory landscape that governs probiotic use, ensuring safety and efficacy in clinical and dietary settings. By presenting a comprehensive overview of recent studies and emerging trends, this review aims to illuminate probiotics' extensive therapeutic capabilities, leading to future research and clinical applications. However, besides extensive research, further advanced explorations into probiotic interactions and mechanisms will be essential for developing more targeted and effective therapeutic strategies, potentially revolutionizing health care practices for consumers.
RESUMEN
Helicobacter pylori, a pathogenic bacterium, has been known to be the root cause of numerous gastrointestinal disorders. In patients showing symptoms of its infection, antibiotic therapy is a likely treatment. However, the high cost of antibiotic therapy, associated antibiotic resistance along with other adverse effects has led to the use of probiotics for Helicobacter pylori treatment. In recent times, probiotics have played an essential role as complementary prophylaxis for gastrointestinal diseases, thus minimizing antibiotics' usage and their side effects. Probiotics are live microbial agents that exude beneficial effects on their hosts when administered in the proper dosage. The growth of the organism has been reported to be inhibited to a great extent by probiotics and research employing animal models has shown a significant reduction in H. pylori-associated gastric inflammation. In human clinical trials, it has been observed that treatment with probiotics alleviated gastritis symptoms caused by H. pylori and reduced colonization of the organism. As expected, complete eradication of H. pylori infection has not yet been reported by the administration of probiotics alone. Complement treatments using probiotics have shown to benefit infected individuals by decreasing the harmful effects of H. pylori eradication treatment using antibiotics. Long-term administration of probiotics might have favourable outcomes in H. pylori infection especially by decreasing the risk of development of diseases caused by increased levels of gastric inflammation. One such chronic condition is gastric ulcer which occurs due to considerable damage to the mucosal barrier by H. pylori colonization. This review provides a brief description of the promising role of probiotics as a complementary treatment to control H. pylori infection and consequently the management of various gastrointestinal disorders among populations with a special focus on gastric ulcer.