Abstract

ABOUT PREBIOTICS AND PROBIOTICS

*Gihad Alsaeed MD. DCH. MSc. MRCPCH. (uk) and Ibrahim Alsaeed MS.

Abstract

In 1899, Henry Tissier, a French pediatrician, isolated a Y-shaped bacterium in the intestinal flora of breast-fed infant, named it “bifidus”. Gram positive anaerobic branching bacteria that has unique ability to ferment oligosaccharides. Bifidobacterium was found one of the major genera of gastrointestinal tract flora, mainly the colon, in mouth, and in vagina of mammals. Few years later Metchnikoff, director of the first, won the Noble prize for his theory about the importance of intestinal flora and was named the father of Microbiota. He suggested that the type of gut microbiota has great influence on the human wellbeing and longevity.

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