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Review
. 2019 May 3;5(4):FSO391.
doi: 10.4155/fsoa-2019-0004.

Probiotics: current landscape and future horizons

Richard Lj Day  1 , Ashton J Harper  1 , Rachel M Woods  2 , Owen G Davies  2 , Liam M Heaney  2
Affiliations
Review

Probiotics: current landscape and future horizons

Richard Lj Day et al. Future Sci OA. .

Abstract

In recent years there has been a rapid rise in interest for the application of probiotic supplements to act as mediators in health and disease. This appeal is predominantly due to ever-increasing evidence of the interaction of the microbiota and pathophysiological processes of disease within the human host. This narrative review considers the current landscape of the probiotic industry and its research, and discusses current pitfalls in the lack of translation from laboratory science to clinical application. Future considerations into how industry and academia must adapt probiotic research to maximize success are suggested, including more targeted application of probiotic strains dependent on individual capabilities as well as application of multiple advanced analytical technologies to further understand and accelerate microbiome science.

Keywords: disease; health; metabolomics; metagenomics; metatranscriptomics; microbiome; probiotics; proteomics.

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Conflict of interest statement

Financial & competing interests disclosure RLJ Day and AJ Harper are employees of ADM Protexin Ltd. and RM Woods is funded through a Yakult Honsha Co., Ltd research grant. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. A diagrammatic overview of the positive and negative influence of gut bacteria represented across a wide-range of health and disease conditions.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.. Annual (top) and cumulative (bottom) trend of published research manuscripts indexed on MEDLINE/PubMed matching the terms ‘probiotics’ AND (‘health’ OR ‘disease’) [data refer to search conducted on 27 November 2018].
Figure 3.
Figure 3.. Overview of multi-omics technologies and associated analytical techniques.
GC: Gas chromatography; HPLC: High-performance liquid chromatography; LC-MS: Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry; MALDI: Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization; MS: Mass spectrometry; NGS: Next-generation sequencing; NMR = nuclear magnetic resonance.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.. A schematic drawing to demonstrate gut bacterial metabolism of dietary components choline and L-carnitine into TMA which is subsequently converted to TMAO by liver flavin-containing monooxygenases (e.g., FMO3).
TMA: Trimethylamine; TMAO: Trimethylamine N-oxide.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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