The word “probiotic” originates from the Greek signification for “life”. According to the definition of the World Health Organization (WHO), probiotics are live microorganisms that, when consumed in sufficient quantities, confer beneficial effects on their host.

During the past 20 years, considerable clinical research has been conducted on probiotics. Their modes of action have been studied and explained to a certain degree, and new health applications have been developed. Today, it has been clearly established that probiotics help normalize the balance of intestinal flora in cases where this balance is disturbed — in the presence of pathogens, for example. However, probiotics do not all have the same modes of action, and lactic bacteria do not all have the same potential for making a good probiotic.

A good probiotic must not present any health risk for the consumer. It must also be able to remain alive from point of production to its arrival in the action site (most often, in the intestines), and it must have proven its effectiveness.

• The production of substances that inhibit pathogenic bacteria 

• The inhibition of the adhesion of pathogenic bacteria to the intestinal wall

• The modulation of the immune system

• A direct impact on neuromuscular activity