Immunomodulation and anticancer potentials of yogurt probiotic

Abstract

Probiotics are defined as live microbial food ingredients that produce several beneficial ef-fects to human health. Probiotic bacteria have been mostly investigated in the prevention and treatment of different gastrointestinal diseases and allergies. Probiotic products, however, are usually consumed by the general, healthy population but not much is known on their immu-nomodulatory effects in healthy adults. It is not fully clear how probiotics exert their benefi-cial effects on health, but one of the most probable mechanisms of action is the modulation of immune responses via the mucosal immune system of the gut. Yogurt is one of the products that produce several beneficial effects on human health. The potentials of yogurt in various ways like improving immune system balancing gut micro flora, enhance immunity. The pur-pose of the present study was to review the immunomodulatory properties of yogurt contain-ing probiotic strains. Role of yogurt as probiotic in improvement of immunity, production of cytokines and on immune function has been evaluated. Taken together, all the beneficial im-munological potentials of yogurt in probiotic immunotherapy could be of clinical signifi-cance. The mechanisms of specific host-probiotic interactions in the gut resulting in systemic and clinical effects warrants further investigations.