Editorial
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World J Gastroenterol. Jan 28, 2010; 16(4): 403-410
Published online Jan 28, 2010. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v16.i4.403
Probiotics and gut health: A special focus on liver diseases
Silvia Wilson Gratz, Hannu Mykkanen, Hani S El-Nezami
Silvia Wilson Gratz, Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, University of Aberdeen, Greenburn Road, Aberdeen AB21 9SN, United Kingdom
Hannu Mykkanen, School of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Kuopio, PO Box 1627, 70211 Kuopio, Finland
Hani S El-Nezami, Food and Health Research Centre, University of Kuopio, PO Box 1627, 70211 Kuopio, Finland; School of Biological Sciences, University of Hong Kong, S5-13 Kadoorie Biological Sciences Building, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China
Author contributions: Gratz SW, Mykkanen H and El-Nezami HS wrote the article.
Correspondence to: Hani S El-Nezami, Professor, School of Biological Sciences, University of Hong Kong, S5-13 Kadoorie Biological Sciences Building, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China. elnezami@hku.hk
Telephone: +852-22990835 Fax: +852-22990364
Received: October 23, 2009
Revised: December 4, 2009
Accepted: December 11, 2009
Published online: January 28, 2010
Abstract

Probiotic bacteria have well-established beneficial effects in the management of diarrhoeal diseases. Newer evidence suggests that probiotics have the potential to reduce the risk of developing inflammatory bowel diseases and intestinal bacterial overgrowth after gut surgery. In liver health, the main benefits of probiotics might occur through preventing the production and/or uptake of lipopolysaccharides in the gut, and therefore reducing levels of low-grade inflammation. Specific immune stimulation by probiotics through processes involving dendritic cells might also be beneficial to the host immunological status and help prevent pathogen translocation. Hepatic fat metabolism also seems to be influenced by the presence of commensal bacteria, and potentially by probiotics; although the mechanisms by which probiotic might act on the liver are still unclear. However, this might be of major importance in the future because low-grade inflammation, hepatic fat infiltration, and hepatitis might become more prevalent as a result of high fat intake and the increased prevalence of obesity.

Keywords: Probiotics; Liver; Gut; Endotoxin; Barrier function; Ethanol; Bacterial overgrowth; Translocation