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Essay / Essay on Probiotics - 536
The term “Probiotic” is derived from the Greek which means pro: for and bios: life (for life) in contradiction with antibiotic which means: against life. The term probiotic was first introduced by Lilly and Stillwel (1965) to express growth-promoting factors produced by microorganisms. Parker (1974) was the first to specify the designation “Probiotic”. He defined probiotics as microorganisms or substances that contribute to the balance of intestinal microflora. Probiotics are biological products that stimulate the immune system and increase its defensive activity against pathogenic bacteria. Probiotics stimulate the body's natural resistance by increasing the number of antibodies and increasing the efficiency of macrophages (Stern et al., 2001). Probiotics are mainly used to balance the microflora of organisms, which in turn is helpful in the growth of an organism as well as its production (Kabir et al., 2005). Probiotics will secrete antimicrobial substances and modify the microflora to suppress pathogenic activity and show the antitoxin effect (Janardhana et al..,2...