ABSTRACT

The prevalence of allergic diseases including atopic dermatitis has increased over the last few decades. Atopic dermatitis is a widespread allergic disease and the first step of allergic march, for which there is presently no known treatment. Under the recent literature data, use of probiotics in early life beginning from pregnancy is thought to be an effective method and appears to be a hopeful tactic for prevention, but very little is known about its long-term preventive effect. Here, our aim is to give an outline of the results from these prevention/treatment studies and to discuss current approaches. Probiotics are universally described as “live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host” by the World Health Organization. In most studies, single strains or a mixture of strains of lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria was used prenatally, postnatally, or perinatally. Several meta-analyses have shown a moderate benefit of probiotics for eczema prevention, and the most reliable effect has been observed with a combined perinatal (prenatally + postnatally) administration in infants at high risk of allergic disease by heredity. In addition, use of multi-strain (mixture of different bacterial species or of Lactobacillus species) probiotics appeared to be most effective for eczema prevention. Probiotics also could be an option in eczema therapy, especially for moderate to severe eczema in children and adults. No preventive and therapeutic effect has been shown for other allergic disorders. To date, expert bodies do not generally propose probiotics for allergy prevention, although the World Allergy Organization suggests considering using probiotics in pregnant women, during breastfeeding, and/or to the infant if at high risk of developing allergic disease.