Preventative and Therapeutic Role of Probiotics in Various Allergic and Autoimmune Disorders: An Up-to-Date Literature Review of Essential Experimental and Clinical Data

• Published in: Journal of evidence-based complementary & alternative medicine Vol. 18; no. 2; pp. 121 - 151
• Main Author: Oezdemir, Oener
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.04.2013
• Subjects: Atopic; Autoimmune disorders; Clinical trials; Prevalence; Probiotics; Regulation
• ISSN: 2156-5872
• DOI: 10.1177/2156587212461279

The increased prevalence of atopic/autoimmune diseases is nowadays defined as an endemic. Recent epidemiologic data showed that children with allergic/autoimmune disease have a different intestinal flora from healthy ones. Therefore, regulation of intestinal microflora composition by probiotics offers the possibility to influence the development of autoimmune/atopic diseases. And probiotics have been reported as capable preventive and therapeutic strategy in allergic/autoimmune diseases. The aim is to summarize/evaluate the available knowledge of probiotic use from randomized/nonrandomized controlled clinical trials, apart from reviews and meta-analyses. Those clinical trials involving studies of atopic/autoimmune disease indicated that not all patients receiving the probiotic agent benefited. But subsets of these patients, such as those with IgE-associated eczema and ulcerative colitis, seemed to have benefited the most. There is inadequate but quite promising evidence in the literature to recommend the addition of probiotics to foods. Nonetheless, probiotics still cannot be generally recommended for prevention/treatment of allergic/autoimmune diseases.