Author
Dr. Hashemi, MD.
Abstract
Prebiotic: A nondigestible food ingredient that benefits the host by selectively stimulating the favorable growth and/ or activity of 1 or more indigenous prebiotic bacteria.
Prebiotics can modify the intestinal flora and interact with the immune system of the host against specific pathogens. However clinical trials are currently limited and a beneficial effect of prebiotic in treatment acute diarrhea is still lacking. Prebiotics is not helpful to prevention of diarrhea. there is a paucity of data on the use of Prebiotics in the prevention of ADD (antibiotic – associated diarrhea).
Probiotic: An oral supplement or a food product that contains a sufficient number of viable microorganisms to alter the micro flora of the host and has the potential for beneficial health effects.
Result of published randomized controlled trials (RCT) have indicated that there is modest benefit of giving probiotics in preventing acute gastroenteritis but have good therapeutic benefit in treatment of acute diarrhea. LGG is the most effective. Probiotics also more effective when given early in the course of diarrhea and are most helpful for otherwise healthy children with watery diarrhea secondary to vial gastroenteritis but no invasive bacterial infection. Probitic can be use to reduce the incidence of ADD specially when started in initiate of treatment. Probiotics is associated with a significant reduced risk of diarrhea lasting more than 3 days.
Keywords
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