There are obstacles. Consumers may have little understanding or awareness of probiotics. Complicated regulations on health claims for food don’t help either. Did You Know? The name ‘probiotics’ was coined in 1989 by the British scientist Roy Fuller. In addition, health professionals outside Japan do not seem to be fully aware of the possible health benefits of probiotics. Another restraint is the limited stability of probiotics in foods. Some people believe that prebiotics may have a greater market potential than probiotics, as they do not have the same stability problems since they are not alive. In the last decades, scientists have discovered several promising probiotic applications, through both live and artificial studies. By now they are convinced that probiotics may decrease onstipation and both bacterial and viral diarrhoea. Dr Erika Isolauri leads a research group whose clinical studies focus on on probiotics in infants, especially in treating rota viruses. She is a professor of paediatrics at the Turku University Central Hospital in Finland. ‘In the last decades the treatment of this kind of diarrhoea has remarkably improved recovery from weeks into days,’ Prof Isolauri says. ‘We have found that probiotics can accelerate recovery even more, by one or two days.’ Prof Isolauri and her colleagues presume that probiotics reinforce intestinal defences in two ways: both by influencing the mix of bacteria in the intestine, and by stimulating the immune system. ‘For example, they may compete with “bad” bacteria by the production of enzymes and influence the local pH. In addition, they control the generation of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines— substances produced by our immune system as a protection against intruders,’ Prof says.