Use of Probiotics in Managing Gastrointestinal Disorders

Abstract

The global burden of gastrointestinal (GI) disorders is staggering; irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), and gastroenteritis are some of the conditions affecting millions worldwide. Those disorders factor in the suffering of the patients and result in poor quality of life. Probiotics have recently come to the fore, in conditions such as this, as a prospective therapeutic solution. The aim is to look into the role of probiotics in GI disorders, especially concerning their relationships with gut microbiota, immune modulation, and gut-brain axis influence. Probiotics appear to relieve some symptoms of IBS, initiate repair mechanisms against inflammatory challenges in IBD, and prevent antibiotic-associated diarrhea. Many questions remain to be answered, especially with strain-specificity, issues regarding probiotic licenses, and the need for more proper clinical studies. Nevertheless, probiotics offer a useful adjunct to managing GI disorders and represent an acceptable and safe option for their treatment. This paper concludes with a need for further studies to examine their use in optimizing strain-specific effects and their clinical application limitations.