Probiotics are live organisms that provide beneficial health effects to humans and animals. They are friendly bacteria or yeast that live in the intestine along with very few other microorganisms. The set of all of them is known as gut flora. These microorganisms perform certain tasks that might be either helpful or harmful to the body. The good bacteria, which are helpful to the body, are termed probiotics. Probiotics help in healthy digestion and absorption of nutrients and expelling out the disease-causing pathogens.

 

The human body contains billions of bacteria and other microorganisms that inhabit the skin, genitourinary tract, mouth, and especially the gastrointestinal tract. The number of bacterial cells is much greater than the number of human cells, at a ratio of ten to one. The community of these microorganisms, known as microbiota helps host biological processes, including digestion, growth and immunity. The microbiota is considered as an integrated organ physiology of its host.

 

Investigations have determined the relationship between various disorders and imbalance of intestinal microflora. These diseases  including allergies, eczema, diarrhea, diarrhea associated with antibiotic use, lactose intolerance, cholesterol, blood pressure, infections, immune function, Helicobacter pylori infection, inflammation, inflammatory bowel diseases, bacterial vaginosis, among others. In addition, recently it has evidenced that microbiota, specifically in the gut, can greatly influence cognitive functions, such as learning, memory and decision making processes.

The World Health Organization (WHO) agreed to define probiotic as: “probiotics are live microorganisms which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host.”

 

The human gut microbial includes about 100 trillion bacteria corresponding to about 500 to 1,000 different species. It is a dynamic microbial ecosystem that colonizes the gastrointestinal tract and comprises the following groups of microorganisms:

 

Microorganisms that potentially promote the health of the host.

 

They correspond to native microbes found permanently in the digestive tract and which have beneficial effects on the health of host. This ecosystem is acquired during birth and the first year of life. Probiotics are included in this group.

 

Potentially pathogenic microorganisms.

 

This group corresponds to various microorganisms that temporarily pass through the digestive tract coming from food and other sources. Pathogenic organisms including Escherichia Colli, Klebsiella, Fusobacterium, Bacteroides and Clostridium, Vibrio cholerae, and Proteus and Helicobacter pylori, among others.

Probiotics ingredients of Florabiotika from The Green Labs LLC corresponds to commercial and bulk presentations highly stable of individual strains of probiotics and mixed formulas, including special presentations designed for infants and children.

 

Florabiotika Individual Strains.

 

Florabiotika Individual Strains are probiotics carefully chosen to produce the effects associated with the presence of normal microflora in the colon. Besides these strains can be used for the development of probiotics and synbiotics formulations, supplements, yogurt and beverages and functional foods. Florabiotika Individual Strains comprise several Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, Streptococcus thermophiles species.

 

Factors that affect the intestinal microbiota

 

Due to some circumstances, normal indigenous bacteria cannot always optimally perform their functions. Probiotics and prebiotics have been studied and used to improve these functions. Gut microbiota is affected by many exogenous and endogenous factors including diet, age, gender; climate, stress; pathogenic organisms, and host’s immune mechanisms, among others. In addition, the use of antibiotics on acute infections’ therapies can induce digestive disorders due to alteration of normal gut flora.

Lactobacillus is group of rod shaped, Gram-positive, non spore forming bacteria. Lactobacillus species are used for a wide variety of applications in foods and feed fermentation. Lactobacillusis a widely studied probiotic that has proven beneficial health effects in adults who consume it regularly. The lactobacillus species have been shown to play an integral role in preventing colonization by potential pathogens in the colon and are thus designated probiotics. These types of bacteria are broadly distributed in milk, milk products, animal feed, silage, manure, fermented vegetables, beverages, breads and sausages. Lactobacillus include strains as L. Acidophilus, L. Fermentum, L. Plantarum, L. Rhamnosus, L. Salivarius, L. Paracasei, L. Gasseri and L. Reuteri.
On the other hand, Bifidobacterium, as probiotic agents, have been extensively studied due to its great health benefits. They are abundant inhabitants of the gastrointestinal tract, vagina and mouth of mammals, including humans. Bifidobacteria are used to improve a wide spectrum of human gastrointestinal disorders. Several Bifidobacterium species with beneficial health effects include: Bifidobacterium infantis, Bifidobacterium longum, Bifidobacterium animalis subsp lactis and Bifidobacterium breve.