Probiotics are microorganisms that are believed to provide health benefits when consumed. With regard to gut microbiota, prebiotics are typically non-digestible, fiber compounds that pass undigested through the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract and stimulate the growth or activity of advantageous gut flora by acting as substrate for them.
Synbiotics refers to food ingredients or dietary supplements combining probiotics and prebiotics in a form of synergism.
The term “pharmabiotics” is used in various ways, to mean: pharmaceutical formulations (standardized manufacturing that can obtain regulatory approval as a drug) of probiotics, prebiotics, or synbiotics; probiotics that have been genetically engineered or otherwise optimized for best performance (shelf life, survival in the digestive tract, etc.); and the natural products of gut flora metabolism (vitamins, etc.).
There is some evidence that treatment with some probiotic strains of bacteria may be effective in irritable bowel syndrome and chronic idiopathic constipation. Those organisms most likely to result in a decrease of symptoms have included:
- Enterococcus faecium
- Lactobacillus plantarum
- Lactobacillus rhamnosus
- Propionibacterium freudenreichii
- Bifidobacterium breve
- Lactobacillus reuteri
- Lactobacillus salivarius
- Bifidobacterium infantis
- Streptococcus thermophilus