Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Synbiotics: Bioactive Foods in Health Promotion reviews and presents new hypotheses and conclusions on the effects of different bioactive components of probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics to prevent disease and improve the health of various populations. Experts define and support the actions of bacteria; bacteria modified bioflavonoids and prebiotic fibrous materials and vegetable compounds. A major emphasis is placed on the health-promoting activities and bioactive components of probiotic bacteria. - Offers a novel focus on synbiotics, carefully designed prebiotics probiotics combinations to help design functional food and nutraceutical products - Discusses how prebiotics and probiotics are complementary and can be incorporated into food products and used as alternative medicines - Defines the variety of applications of probiotics in health and disease resistance and provides key insights into how gut flora are modified by specific food materials - Includes valuable information on how prebiotics are important sources of micro-and macronutrients that modify body functions

Chronic conditions, such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, are now among the greatest threats to human health. As public concerns with complex causality and long development period, chronic diseases generally cannot be cured by medication or prevented by vaccines. Finding new strategies to prevent or treat chronic diseases has long been a challenge to science. Recently, a series of breakthrough studies in intestinal biology, especially in the fields of the gut microbiota, has made us pay close attention to the critical role of intestinal function in chronic disease treatment. Emerging evidence suggests that the gut microbiota could affect the occurrence, diagnosis, and treatment of human conditions, resulting in gut microbiota intervention as a new therapeutic strategy for chronic disorders. However, investigating the intrinsic relation between the gut microbiome and chronic conditions is still in development and requires intense concentration, although the wave of research on the gut microbiome has continued growing and the associated innovations are evolving rapidly. Moreover, translational research on the human microbiome is gaining attention nowadays. Probiotics and their engineered strains, postbiotics, microbial metabolites, prebiotics, microbiota transplantation, and microbiota-targeted interventions are practical approaches to modulating the microbiome. Probiotics, postbiotics, and microbial metabolites are one of the most important and effective interventions. As for disease prevention and treatment, some microbiota-associated live biotherapeutic products (e.g., Akkermansia muciniphila) have been demonstrated with respectable efficacy for human disorders, including diabetes. As for the food nutrition community, supplement with probiotics or prebiotics in diet shows health-promoting benefits for the human being. Collectively, these results inspire us to explore more effective strains to prevent or treat human conditions such as chronic diseases. Undoubtedly, exploring the human-associated microbiota provides a novel perspective for unlocking life’s mystery and unraveling the underlying basic pathogenesis of diseases such as chronic conditions. Targeting microbiota through probiotics, postbiotics, microbial metabolites, prebiotics, microbiota transplantation, and other interventions can generate new therapeutic strategies for chronic disorders in humans. Therefore, this research topic aims to explore the beneficial effects of novel probiotics, postbiotics, and microbial metabolites on chronic diseases, determine the critical role that the human microbiome and probiotics or postbiotics play in chronic conditions changes, determine the basic principles of translational research on probiotics or postbiotics or microbial metabolites and contribute to the prevention and treatment of chronic disorders. We welcome submissions including original research articles, clinical studies, and reviews that contribute innovative knowledge to the following but not limited to potential research topics: •Identification of functional probiotics, postbiotics, and microbial metabolites with human health-promoting, chronic disease prevention and therapeutic properties. •Probiotics/postbiotics or microbial metabolites supplements prevent and treat several most prevalent chronic conditions including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, mental disorders, cancers, and pulmonary conditions. •Clinical and experimental studies using multi-omics to reveal the intrinsic relationship between human microbes/microbiota and chronic diseases. •Translational microbiome research on chronic diseases. •The engineered probiotics for the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, especially related studies involved in exploring the potential molecular mechanisms of engineering microbes. •The key technologies involved in the industrialization process of probiotics, postbiotics, and microbial metabolites.

This report issues a call for urgent action to combat the growing epidemic of obesity, which now affects developing and industrialized countries alike. Adopting a public health approach, the report responds to both the enormity of health problems associated with obesity and the notorious difficulty of treating this complex, multifactorial disease. With these problems in mind, the report aims to help policy-makers introduce strategies for prevention and management that have the greatest chance of success. The importance of prevention as the most sensible strategy in developing countries, where obesity coexists with undernutrition, is repeatedly emphasized. Recommended lines of action, which reflect the consensus reached by 25 leading authorities, are based on a critical review of current scientific knowledge about the causes of obesity in both individuals and populations. While all causes are considered, major attention is given to behavioural and societal changes that have increased the energy density of diets, overwhelmed sophisticated regulatory systems that control appetite and maintain energy balance, and reduced physical activity. Specific topics discussed range from the importance of fat content in the food supply as a cause of population-wide obesity, through misconceptions about obesity held by both the medical profession and the public, to strategies for dealing with the alarming prevalence of obesity in children. "... the volume is clearly written, and carries a wealth of summary information that is likely to be invaluable for anyone interested in the public health aspects of obesity and fatness, be they students, practitioner or researcher." - Journal of Biosocial Science

Probiotics in The Prevention and Management of Human Diseases: A Scientific Perspective addresses the use of probiotics and their mechanistic aspects in diverse human diseases. In particular, the mechanistic aspects of how these probiotics are involved in mitigating disease symptoms (novel approaches and immune-mechanisms induced by Probiotics), clinical trials of certain probiotics, and animal model studies will be presented through this book. In addition, the book covers the role of probiotics in prevention and management aspects of crucial human diseases, including multidrug resistant infections, hospital acquired infections, allergic conditions, autoimmune diseases, metabolic disorders, gastrointestinal diseases, neurological disorders, and cancers. Finally, the book addresses the use of probiotics as vaccine adjuvants and as a solution for nutritional health problems and describes the challenges of using probiotics in management of human disease conditions as well as their biosafety concerns. Intended for nutrition researchers, microbiologists, physiologists, and researchers in related disciplines as well as students studying these topics require a resource that addresses the specific role of probiotics in the prevention and management of human disease. - Contains information on the use of probiotics in significant human diseases, including antibiotic resistant microbial infections - Presents novel applications of probiotics, including their use in vaccine adjuvants and concept of pharmabiotics - Includes case studies and human clinical trials for probiotics in diverse disease conditions and explores the role of probiotics in mitigation of the symptoms of disease

This book covers all aspects of probiotic bacteria and their metabolites, as well as their role and significance in human and animal health. Given the role of probiotic bacterial strains in the production of short chain fatty acids, butyrate etc probiotics may be considered as an alternative approach for the prevention or treatment of intestinal dysbiosis, cancers, cardiovascular diseases, hypertensions. Additionally, the significance of probiotics added in aquaculture systems for improving health, performance and growth of aquatic organisms has been highlighted. In this book, the multi-functional role of probiotics and their post-biotic metabolites in improving overall health status of man and animals, is discussed. It is a comprehensive compilation useful for researchers, academics, veterinarians and students in the field of microbiology, food technology and biotechnology.

Aimed at students, researchers, nutritionists, and developers in food technology, this research text addresses the nascent field of metabiotics. Metabiotics are products based on components of cells, metabolites, and signaling molecules released by probiotic strains, engineered to optimize host-specific physiological functions in a way that traditional probiotics cannot. This book examines the history, processes, design, classifications, and functions of metabiotics. It includes an overview of the composition and function of the gut microbiota, and discusses development of target-specific metabiotics. Further coverage includes comparisons to traditional probiotics, as well as probiotic safety and side-effects. Metabiotics: Present State, Challenges and Perspectives provides a complete history and understanding of this new field, the next phase of the probiotic industry.

Functional and Medicinal Beverages, Volume Eleven, in the Science of Beverages series, discusses one of the fastest growing sectors in the food industry. As the need for research and development increases based on consumer demand, the information in this volume is essential. This reference includes the latest research trends, nutritive and medicinal ingredients, and analytical techniques to identify health beneficial elements. The contents of the book will bring readers up-to-date on the field, thus making it useful for researchers and graduate students in various fields across the food sciences and technology. Highlights new concepts, innovative technologies and current concerns in the functional beverages field Covers detailed information on the engineering and processing of novel ingredients for health benefits Includes common and alternative ingredients for juices, vegetable blends, milk-based drinks, and probiotic and prebiotic based alternative beverages

The term “immunobiotics” has been proposed to define microbial strains able to beneficially regulate the mucosal immune system. Research in immunobiotics has significantly evolved as researchers employed cutting-edge technologies to investigate the complex interactions of these beneficial microorganisms with the immune system. During the last decade, our understanding of immunobiotics-host interaction was profoundly transformed by the discovery of microbial molecules and host receptors involved in the modulation of gut associated immune system, as well as the systemic and distant mucosal immune systems. In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in the number of reports describing the beneficial effects of immunobiotics in diseases such as intestinal and respiratory infections, allergy, inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, immunosuppression, and several other immune-mediated conditions. Evidence is also emerging of immunobiotics related molecules with immunomodulatory functions leading to the production of pharmabiotics, which may positively influence human or animal health. Therefore, research in immunobiotics continue to contribute not only to food but also medical and pharmaceutical fields. The compilation of research articles included in this ebook should help reader to have an overview of the recent advances in immunobiotics.

Microbiota-associated pathology can be a direct result of changes in general bacterial composition, such as might be found in periodontitis and bacterial vaginosis, and/or as the result of colonization and/or overgrowth of so called keystone species. The disruption in the composition of the normal human microbiota, or dysbiosis, plays an integral role in human health and human disease. The Human Microbiota and Human Chronic Disease: Dysbioses as a Cause of Human Pathology discusses the role of the microbiota in maintaining human health. The text introduces the reader to the biology of microbial dysbiosis and its potential role in both bacterial disease and in idiopathic chronic disease states. Divided into five sections, the text delineates the concept of the human bacterial microbiota with particular attention being paid to the microbiotae of the gut, oral cavity and skin. A key methodology for exploring the microbiota, metagenomics, is also described. The book then shows the reader the cellular, molecular and genetic complexities of the bacterial microbiota, its myriad connections with the host and how these can maintain tissue homeostasis. Chapters then consider the role of dysbioses in human disease states, dealing with two of the commonest bacterial diseases of humanity – periodontitis and bacterial vaginosis. The composition of some, if not all microbiotas can be controlled by the diet and this is also dealt with in this section. The discussion moves on to the major ‘idiopathic’ diseases afflicting humans, and the potential role that dysbiosis could play in their induction and chronicity. The book then concludes with the therapeutic potential of manipulating the microbiota, introducing the concepts of probiotics, prebiotics and the administration of healthy human faeces (faecal microbiota transplantation), and then hypothesizes as to the future of medical treatment viewed from a microbiota-centric position. Provides an introduction to dysbiosis, or a disruption in the composition of the normal human microbiota Explains how microbiota-associated pathology and other chronic diseases can result from changes in general bacterial composition Explores the relationship humans have with their microbiota, and its significance in human health and disease Covers host genetic variants and their role in the composition of human microbial biofilms, integral to the relationship between human health and human disease Authored and edited by leaders in the field, The Human Microbiota and Human Chronic Disease will be an invaluable resource for clinicians, pathologists, immunologists, cell and molecular biologists, biochemists, and system biologists studying cellular and molecular bases of human diseases.