<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Probiotic bacteria have been used as a health-promoting factor for a very long time. Nowadays, products containing probiotic bacteria are becoming more and more popular on the market. The term probiotics refers to the products belonging to the following groups: probiotic drugs (medicinal products – live biotherapeutic products for human use), medical devices, probiotic foods (e.g. foods, food ingredients, dietary supplements or food for special medical purposes), directly fed microorganisms (for animal use) and designer probiotics (genetically modified probiotics). Safety assessment of bacterial strains used as probiotics should be carefully studied. Even though probiotic bacteria have the generally recognized as safe (GRAS status), there are several reports about side effects triggered by the presence of these organisms. Microorganisms used as probiotics may cause systemic infections, stimulate the immune system, disturb metabolism and participate in horizontal gene transfer.</p></abstract>

Probiotic bacteria have been used as a health-promoting factor for a very long time. Nowadays, products containing probiotic bacteria are becoming more and more popular on the market. The term probiotics refers to the products belonging to the following groups: probiotic drugs (medicinal products – live biotherapeutic products for human use), medical devices, probiotic foods (e.g. foods, food ingredients, dietary supplements or food for special medical purposes), directly fed microorganisms (for animal use) and designer probiotics (genetically modified probiotics). Safety assessment of bacterial strains used as probiotics should be carefully studied. Even though probiotic bacteria have the generally recognized as safe (GRAS status), there are several reports about side effects triggered by the presence of these organisms. Microorganisms used as probiotics may cause systemic infections, stimulate the immune system, disturb metabolism and participate in horizontal gene transfer.

Are Probiotic Really Safe for Humans?

Polish Journal of Microbiology

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Are Probiotic Really Safe for Humans?"}

Probiotic bacteria have been used as a health-promoting factor for a very long time. Nowadays, products containing probiotic bacteria are becoming more and...

Are Probiotic Really Safe for Humans?

Article Category: mini-review

Published Online: Sep 04, 2018

Page range: 251 - 258

Received: Mar 29, 2018

Accepted: Jun 14, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21307/pjm-2018-044

Keywords
bacteremia, gene transfer, probiotic bacteria, probiotic side effect, safety of probiotics

© 2018 Anna Zawistowska-Rojek and Stefan Tyski et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Are Probiotic Really Safe for Humans?

Article Category: mini-review

Published Online: Sep 04, 2018

Page range: 251 - 258

Received: Mar 29, 2018

Accepted: Jun 14, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21307/pjm-2018-044

Keywordsbacteremia, gene transfer, probiotic bacteria, probiotic side effect, safety of probiotics

© 2018 Anna Zawistowska-Rojek and Stefan Tyski et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
bacteremia, gene transfer, probiotic bacteria, probiotic side effect, safety of probiotics