AJCN EB Program 2010
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Purchase Article
Right arrow View Shopping Cart
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Reid, G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Reid, G.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Reid, G.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 73, No. 2, 437S-443s, February 2001
© 2001 American Society for Clinical Nutrition

Supplement

Probiotic agents to protect the urogenital tract against infection1,2,3

Gregor Reid

1 From the Lawson Research Institute and the Departments of Microbiology and Immunology and Surgery (Urology), the University of Western Ontario, Canada.

The urogenital microflora of a healthy woman comprises {approx}50 species of organisms, which differ in composition according to reproductive stages and exposure to several factors, including antibiotics and spermicides. Infections are very common with > 300 million cases of urinary tract infections, bacterial vaginosis, and yeast vaginitis worldwide per annum. At the time of infection in the bladder and vagina, the urogenital flora is often dominated by the infecting pathogens, in contrast with healthy phases when indigenous organisms dominate. Premenopausal women have a flora of mostly lactobacilli, and certain properties of these strains, including adhesive ability and production of acids, bacteriocins, hydrogen peroxide, and biosurfactants, appear important in conferring protection to the host. Efforts to artificially restore an unbalanced flora with the use of probiotics have met with mixed results but research aimed at selecting scientifically based strains could well provide a reliable alternative treatment and preventive regimen to antibiotics in the future.

Key Words: Urogenital flora • infection • urinary tract • bacterial vaginosis • lactobacilli • probiotics




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Menopause IntHome page
M. de Vrese
Health benefits of probiotics and prebiotics in women
Menopause Int, March 1, 2009; 15(1): 35 - 40.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2001 by The American Society for Nutrition