**5. Conclusion**

Probiotics are beneficial microorganism with a host of benefits for the consumer though some of these benefits still have to be confirmed using clinical trials. There is however still a problem of maintenance of viability of these cultures both in storage and in the gastrointestinal tract. The search for methods that can protect and retain viability of probiotic cultures is still on going. There are also concerns about the negative effects of probiotics on sensitive consumers but there is insufficient evidence to support the raised concerns. Prebiotics and synbiotics are alternative mechanisms for increasing the levels of beneficial microorganisms in the gut.
