**2.4 Bowel inflammatory disease**

Inflammatory bowel disease involves two subtypes: ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Ulcerative colitis is determined by a continuous inflammation, which starts in the rectum and it is restricted to colon, whereas inflammation from Crohn's disease can occur in any region of the gastrointestinal tract (Bousvaros et al., 2007; Mack, 2011).

The non-pathogenical strain *E. coli* Nissle 1917 showed to be efficient in the Crohn's disese maintenance therapy. This microorganism was able to adhere to intestinal epithelial cells in addition to its inhibitory effect observed against pathogenic strains isolated from patients with the disease (Boudeau et al., 2003).

A study conducted by Furrie et al. (2005) pointed the efficiency of *Bifidobacterium longum*  associated to inulin-oligofructose prebiotic in the treatment of ulcerative colitis. The treatment resulted in an improvement of the full clinical appearance in patients who received this therapy.

### **2.5 Hypercholesterolemia**

80 New Advances in the Basic and Clinical Gastroenterology

Protection against diarrhea during the first year of life was obtained by oral inoculation of *Escherichia coli* EMO soon after

The use of *S. boulardii* reduced frequency and duration of acute

*L. casei* DN-114 001 did not

radiation-induced diarrhea

*Bifidobacterium* and *Streptococcus*  reduced antibiotic-associated diarrhea in hospitalized infants

Addition of *Lactobacillus* strains in the fermented milk was effective in the prevention of antibiotic-

Use of lyophilized milk supplemented with

associated diarrhea

diarrhea in children

birth

reduced

incidence

Author (year) Assessed probiotic Results

Figueiredo et al. (2001) *Escherichia coli* EMO

Billoo et al. (2006) *Saccharomyces boulardii* 

Giralt et al. (2007) *Lactobacillus casei* DN-114 001

Corrêa et al. (2005) *Bifidobacterium bifidum* <sup>+</sup>

Beausoleil et al. (2007) *Lactobacillus acidophilus* <sup>+</sup>

disease (Rolfe, 2000).

**2.4 Bowel inflammatory disease** 

with the disease (Boudeau et al., 2003).

*Streptococcus thermophilus* 

*Lactobacillus casei* 

Table 1. Clinical trials on the use of probiotics in the treatment of diaheia

bloating, 88% in flatulence, 90.9% in diarrhea and 86.9% in constipation.

region of the gastrointestinal tract (Bousvaros et al., 2007; Mack, 2011).

good alternative for the treatment of this syndrome inasmuch as the use of probiotic may lead to an unbalance of intestinal microbiota, making the carrier more susceptible to the

Nagala & Routray (2010) studied the effect of a probiotic supplement containing *Lactobacillus acidophilus*, *Bifidobacterium bifidum*, *B. longum* and *B. lactis*, on patients with irritable bowel syndrome. It was observed a significant improvement after two months of the treatment, with 84% of the patients showing improvement in abdominal pain, 73.9% in

Inflammatory bowel disease involves two subtypes: ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Ulcerative colitis is determined by a continuous inflammation, which starts in the rectum and it is restricted to colon, whereas inflammation from Crohn's disease can occur in any

The non-pathogenical strain *E. coli* Nissle 1917 showed to be efficient in the Crohn's disese maintenance therapy. This microorganism was able to adhere to intestinal epithelial cells in addition to its inhibitory effect observed against pathogenic strains isolated from patients Saturated fat rich diets can increase serum cholesterol rates, which is one of the main risk factor for cardiovascular disease (Vasiljevic & Shah, 2008). Many studies have been carried out on the hypocholesterolemic activity of non-pathogenic bacteria through mechanism of hydrolysis of biliar salt (Pereira et al., 2003; Noriega et al., 2006; Parvez et al., 2006; Nguyen et al., 2007).

Baroutkoub et al. (2010) observed that consumption of probiotic yogurt with *Lactobacillus acidophilus* and *Bifidobacteria* cepas by people with hypercholesterolemia resulted in the reduction of total cholesterol and LDL (Low Density Lipoproteins: it is believed they are the harmful class to human beings) and in the increase of good cholesterol, HDL (High Density Lipoproteins: it is believed that they are able to absorb cholesterol crystals which are deposited in arteries/veins wall, therefore delaying arteriosclerotic process) in the blood.

Despite the great number of studies, reduction of serum cholesterol effect by probiotics is not considered an established effect, yet. Thus, new clinical trials controlled by placebo should be carried out to prove the efficiency of those microorganisms.

#### **2.6 Cancer control**

The fight against cancer is one of the biggest challenges faced by humanity. According to some authors, consumption of probiotic-supplemented products can prevent and even suppress tumor growth. According to Ma et al. (2010), *Bacillus polyfermenticus* was able to suppress in vitro and in vivo growth of cancer cells, suggesting that such microorganism can be used to prevent colon cancer development. Probiotic strains of *E. faecium* RM11 and *L. fermentum* RM28, isolated from fermented-milk were also shown to have antiproliferative properties against colon cancer cells, suggesting that such microorganisms can be used as an alternative to colon cancer (Thirabunyanon et al., 2009).

It was observed in volunteer subjects who received *Lactobacillus rhamnosus* LC705 and *Propionibacterium freudenreichii* a reduction of intestinal absorption of aflatoxin B1, a toxin correlated to the high liver cancer index. Therefore, probiotic supplementation can be effective in preventing development of liver cancer and other types of cancer caused by environmental factors (El-Nezami et al., 2006).

#### **2.7 Allergy**

Probiotics are able to reduce *in vitro* various inflammatory cytokines and intestinal permeability, which are effects considered beneficial in allergic conditions. In addition, gut microbiota of atopic patients seems quite different, with an increase in clostridia and a decrease of bifidobacteria when compared to microbiota of non-atopic individuals. Studies have been performed to evaluate the effectiveness of probiotics in food allergy, atopic eczema and rhinitis (Michail et al., 2006).

The Benefits of Probiotics in Human and Animal Nutrition 83

enhancing the host response towards diseases and by improving the quality of its ambient

Microorganisms in the aquatic environment are in direct contact with the outer part of the animals, as for example gills and with the supplied feed, with easy access to the digestive tract of the animal. Among those microorganism present in the aquatic environment are the potentially pathogenic ones, which are opportunists, that is, they take advantage of some stress situation of the animal (high density, deficient feeding), causing infections, which can worse animal performance and even death. *Vibrio* sp., *Plesiomonas shigelloides*, in addition to *Aeromonas* sp. are the main agents causing death in aquaculture, and they can also cause feed infections in human beings. Thus, the objective of using probiotics by aquatic organisms is not only the direct beneficial to the animal but also its effect in the environment

The interaction between environment and host in an aquatic environment is complex. Microorganism in the water influence host intestinal microbiota and vice-versa. Makridis et al. (2000) showed that supply of the bacteria strains through the feed and direct in the cultivation water, in turbot (*Scophthalmus maximus*) larvae incubators, promoted their maintenance in the environment, and they also promoted colonization of the digestive tract

Changes in the salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen variations, alter conditions of the environment, which are propitious to different organism, with consequent changes in the dominant species, which may lead to a efficacy loss of the product. Thus, addition of a probiotic into the cultivation water must be constant, because the medium conditions undergo periodical changes. So, when choosing the pro biot to be used in aquaculture,

Intensive cultivation systems use high stock densities, among other stressing factors (for example: management), which result in low growth rates and feeding efficiency, a fragility in the immune system, making those animals susceptible to the presence of opportunist pathogens present in the cultivation environment. Thus, the effect of the probiotics on the immune system has led to a great number of studies with results beneficial to the health of aquatic organisms, although the way they act have not been clarified, yet. Gram et al. (1999) showed that the use of *Pseudomonas fluorescens* AH2 as probiotic, reduced mortality of rainbow trout (*Oncorhynchus mykiss*) juveniles exposed to *Vibrio anguillarum*. The joint administration of *Lactobacillus fructivorans* and *Lactobacillus plantarum* through live or dry feeding promoted colonization in intestine of *sea bream* (*Spaurus aurata*) larvae and the reduction of animal mortality during larva culture and nursery (Carnevali et al., 2004). Kumar et al. (2006) observed a greater survival in *Labeo rohita* carp fed *Bacillus subtilis*, submitted to intraperitoneal injection with *Aeromonas* 

Regarding cultivated shrimp, bacterial illness are considered the greatest mortality cause in larvae. The administration of a bacterium mixture (*Bacillus* sp. e *Vibrio* sp.) influenced positively survival and presented protection effect against *Vibrio harveyi* and the white spot virus (Balcázar et al., 2006). In the clam *Argopecten purpuratus*, an *Alteromonas haloplanktis*, able to reduce larva mortality when submitted to challenge with *Vibrio anguillarum,* was

variety of the microorganism present in the medium must be taken into account.

environment."

(Verschuere et al., 2000).

of the larvae.

*hydrophila*.

isolated (Riquelme et al., 1996).

The administration of *Lactobacillus* GG in pregnant women, nursing mothers and babies in the first months of life was associated with a decrease in the occurrence of topic eczema in children at risk of developing allergies compared to a placebo group at the end of a year of life (Kalliomäki et al., 2003). Another two controlled studies showed improvement of atopic dermatitis in children after use of *L. rhamnosus* and *L. reuteri*, and children with atopic eczema and allergy to cow's milk responded more effectively to a hydrolyzed formula supplemented with *Lactobacillus* GG (Majamaa et al., 1997; Rosenfeldt et al., 2003). These results are promising for the use of probiotics in allergies, but more studies are needed to confirm this property.
