Biological & Biomedical Sciences Essay: Role of probiotics and prebiotics in management of GI complications and controlling obesity

Role of probiotics and prebiotics in management of GI complications and controlling obesity
Yihan Wu 
Nutrition 490W
Section 001
Fall 2020
Vishal Singh
Abstract
Previous studies have been done on how probiotics and prebiotics could control antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD), weight loss &weight gain, and microbiota. However, the results depicted minimal or no impacts. This review paper highlights instances where randomized control trials have been used to investigate the efficacy of probiotics and prebiotics to control various health conditions. The objective of the paper is to investigate if probiotics and prebiotics can control obesity & microbiota, and be able to treat AAD. The trials were done on different age groups, in both adults and children, in-exclusion of babies irrespective of gender. The studies were conducted in either two-arm or three-arm with a specific number of people, where the candidates were put in different groups and monitored altogether to arrive at precise results without bias.
Introduction
Obesity is a major health problem in the world. According to World Health Organization 2016 data, 1.9 billion people were obese and overweight aged 18+ years and 340 million children aged 5-19 years. The Mckinsey Global Institute estimates world obesity costs around $2 trillion annually making it the third human-caused economic burden. In the US and Canada, it is a serious health concern since more than one-third of the children's population is either obese or overweight. To deal with the problem, prebiotics and probiotics are increasingly being used to make food with claims of health benefits. They are believed to have positive effects on human health because of their direct and indirect immunomodulating capacity. The two have nutritional and dietary fibers that are resistant to digestion and fermentability. Therefore, various studies have been conducted to better understand the dynamic benefits of prebiotics and probiotics to human health in areas such as obesity, depression, antibiotic-associated diarrhea, and control of microbiotas. Randomized control trial methods were used in most of this research.
Theme 1: Weight Gain and Weight Loss
Obese is a serious health problem among children because of their high appetite for fast foods, a study by Hume et al. (2017) was conducted to ...