Synbiotics: A New Strategy to Improve the Immune System from the Gut to Peripheral Sites

Recent studies have suggested that microbiota is involved in several important physiological and immunological functions for the host, and microbiota disorders are associated with many and diverse human diseases such as allergies, inflammatory bowel diseases, immune-related diseases, as well as obesity-associated illnesses. Probiotics and prebiotics are largely used to ameliorate immune-related disorders, however, use of synbiotics as a combination of probiotic and prebiotics is still not widespread. Despite the limited number of studies performed until now on synbiotics, preliminary evidence shows promising capacities to modulate microbiota composition and seems to be active in the amelioration of some immune-related and obesity-associated disorders. However, further studies on the use of synbiotics should be conducted to better understand mechanisms of action and potential use in the prevention and treatment immune-related diseases.