Probiotic Administration for the Prevention and Treatment of Gastrointestinal, Metabolic and Neurological Disorders

The interest in the intestinal microbiota of humans has increased in the last 20 years and significant advances have been achieved with regard to its structure and functions. Since gut microbiota is involved in a range of complex interactions with the host, its manipulation for promoting human health has been the object of several studies. Probiotics, with their long history of safety and effectiveness against harmful microorganisms, are a strategy to not only maintain or restore the correct balance in the microbial population of the intestinal tract, but also to prevent or treat a range of disease conditions. Personalized administration of selected probiotic strains is necessary to ensure the success of their application and is critical to implement their clinical use as a strategy to support preventive, personalized, and predictive medicine (PPPM). The aim of this review is to explore preclinical and clinical studies focused on the use of probiotics for the prevention and treatment of gastrointestinal, metabolic and neurological diseases. In vitro and in vivo studies on probiotic administrations allow the screening of strains for clinical application and the development of personalized probiotic treatments, in accordance with the PPPM perspective. The results achieved in this field showed the positive effects of probiotic supplementation, especially for Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium genera, but new strains belonging to different genera such as Akkermansia are gaining interest. The examined studies support the concept of “precision probiotics” that represent the future of probiotic-based intervention, according to which individuals will be recommended specific diets and probiotics administration tailored to their unique gut microbiome structure.