Health impact of probiotics - vision and opportunities

The recent advent of high throughput sequencing technologies has provided new insights into the composition and metabolic activities of the intestinal biome. Today it is recognized that this complex ecosystem is an assemblage of more than 1000 species of microorganisms that exist in harmony (symbiosis) with the host and exert metabolic activities that virtually parallels an organ within an organ. While most of these activities are beneficial for the host some may be deleterious, the nature of effect, being determined by the composition of the flora. Thus a mutualistic relationship between the beneficial symbionts and commensals is paramount for the maintenance of health and wellbeing with dysbiosis resulting in clinical disease. It follows that the gut flora can be manipulated to enhance the beneficial components which represent a promising strategy for the prevention and management of various infective and non - infective disorders.The symposium started with the welcome address by Prof. N.K. Ganguly, Distinguished Biotechnology Research Professor, Department of Biotechnology, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi. He gave a broad introduction to the topic, emphasizing the central role of the gut flora in the improvement of health. He stated that of the many proposed interventions, probiotics offer immense potential for the prevention of a variety of diseases. It is therefore not surprising that the past decade has witnessed tremendous progress in the area of probiotic research with scientific evidence quickly accumulating to validate their possible role as important therapeutic and preventive strategy for gastrointestinal diseases, treatment and prevention of allergic disorders, chronic inflammatory diseases, prevention of cancers and reduction of respiratory diseases.Dr. R.A. Badwe, Director, Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital, Mumbai, the Chief Guest reemphasized the significant role of the gut flora in maintaining health and stated that although most of the cla