ABSTRACT
In 2001, the FAO/WHO Expert Panel Reported that “Efforts should be made to make probiotic (beneficial microbes) products more widely available, especially for relief work and populations at high risk of morbidity and mortality.” Most countries in the developing world, especially Nigeria, are burdened with high infectious diseases and some non-communicable diseases, for which probiotics have been found to ameliorate, yet only recently that little efforts have been made to bring the concept to Nigeria. Despite the advances in medical sciences, yet diarrhea kills a child every 15 seconds around the world and children between the ages of 0 and 5 years are more susceptible with over 50% death rate in Nigeria. New probiotic formulations can provide fluid and electrolyte replacement in addition to live Lactobacillus and or Bifidobacterium species that would repopulate the gut thereby producing lactic and acetic acids as metabolic by-products of carbohydrate catabolism. To counter the impact of fast foods, we suggest that probiotics, especially probiotic yogurts, be added as part of fast-food cuisines which could replenish consumer’s gut microbial ecology. The consequences of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) due to depletion of bacterial strains that produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) can be reversed by re-establishing the gut with healthy microbiota that produces SCFA. We hope that soon clinicians, especially gastroenterologists, will be armed with lots of relevant information on the need for the augmentation of the gut microbiota in dysbiosis and endorse those probiotics that have been clinically tested for specific health benefits more frequently.
