Intestinal integrity prevents the diffusion of allergens, toxins, and pathogens from the gastrointestinal lumen into the tissue and the circulatory system. Damage in intestinal integrity may cause mild to serious health issues, such as inflammation, gastrointestinal disorders, neurological diseases, and neurodegenerative disorders. Thus, maintaining a healthy intestinal barrier function is essential to sustain health. Probiotics are known for their ability to protect and restore intestinal permeability in vitro and in vivo. The multi-strain probiotics are more efficient than that of a single strain in terms of their protective efficacy. Therefore, the present study was planned and implemented to study the supplementation of probiotic mix (Lactobacillus paracasei HII01, Bifidobacteriumbreve, and Bifidobacterium longum) on intestinal permeability, lipid profile, obesity index and metabolic biomarkers in elderly Thai subjects. The results revealed that the supplementation of studied probiotics improved the intestinal barrier function (up to 48%), significantly increasing the high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol. Moreover, the intervention improved obesity-related anthropometric biomarkers and short-chain fatty acid levels in human subjects. The current study strongly recommends further extended research to confirm the beneficial effect of probiotics, which may pave the way to formulate probiotic-based health supplements to adjuvant the treatment of several metabolic diseases.

The cluster of metabolic disorders includes obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and glucose intolerance, increasing the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes. Evolving proofs suggest an essential role of microbiota in human health and disease, including digestion, energy and glucose metabolism, immunomodulation, and brain function. The frequency of overweight is increasing, and the main causes for this are highly processed foods and less active lifestyles. Research is underway to unravel the probable relationship between obesity and intestinal microbiota. Here, we propose a method to understand and elucidate the synergistic function of prebiotics and probiotics in treating obesity. The biomarkers of obesity, such as cholesterol, gut permeability, oxidative stress, bacterial toxins, cytokines, and short-chain fatty acids, were analyzed in Thai obese individuals after being supplemented with a synbiotic preparation containing Lactobacillus paracasei, Bifidobacterium longum, Bifidobacterium breve, inulin, and fructooligosaccharide. The results reveal that the supplementation of synbiotics significantly altered the obesity-associated biomarkers in an appositive way. Further studies are warranted to use synbiotics as an adjuvant therapy for the management of obesity-related health issues.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is one of the most highly prevalent metabolic disorders worldwide. Uncontrolled T2DM can lead to other health threats such as cardiac arrest, lower-limb amputation, blindness, stroke, impaired kidney function, and microvascular and macrovascular complications. Many studies have demonstrated the association between gut microbiota and diabetes development and probiotic supplementation in improving glycemic properties in T2DM. The study aimed to evaluate the influence of Bifidobacterium breve supplementation on glycemic control, lipid profile, and microbiome of T2DM subjects. Forty participants were randomly divided into two groups, and they received probiotics (50 × 10⁹ CFU/day) or placebo interventions (corn starch; 10 mg/day) for 12 weeks. The changes in the blood-urea nitrogen (BUN), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), fasting blood sugar (FBS), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), creatinine levels, and other factors such as body-mass index, visceral fat, body fat, and body weight were assessed at baseline and after 12 weeks. B. breve supplementation significantly reduced BUN, creatinine, LDL, TG, and HbA1c levels compared to the placebo group. Significant changes were observed in the microbiome of the probiotic-treated group compared to the placebo group. Firmicutes and proteobacteria were predominant in the placebo and probiotic-treated groups. Genera Streptococcus, Butyricicoccus, and species Eubacterium hallii were significantly reduced in the probiotic-treated group compared to the placebo. Overall results suggested that B. breve supplementation could prevent worsening of representative clinical parameters in T2DM subjects. The current study has limitations, including fewer subjects, a single probiotic strain, and fewer metagenomic samples for microbiome analysis. Therefore, the results of the current study require further validation using more experimental subjects.

Urbanization influences our lifestyle, especially in fast-paced environments where we are more prone to stress. Stress management is considered advantageous in terms of longevity. The use of probiotics for psychological treatment has a small amount of diverse proven evidence to support this. However, studies on stress management in stressed subjects using synbiotics are still limited. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of synbiotics on stress in the Thai population. A total of 32 volunteers were enrolled and screened using a Thai Stress Test (TST) to determine their stress status. Participants were divided into the stressed and the non-stressed groups. Synbiotics preparation comprised a mixture of probiotics strains in a total concentration of 1 × 10¹⁰ CFU/day (5.0 × 10⁹ CFU of Lactobacillus paracasei HII01 and 5.0 × 10⁹ CFU of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis) and 10 g prebiotics (5 g galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS), and 5 g oligofructose (FOS)). All parameters were measured at baseline and after the 12th week of the study. In the stressed group, the administration of synbiotics significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the negative scale scores of TST, and tryptophan. In the non-stressed group, the synbiotics administration decreased tryptophan significantly (p < 0.05), whereas dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), acetate and propionate were increased significantly (p < 0.05). In both groups, cortisol, and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were reduced, whereas anti-inflammatory mediator interleukin-10 (IL-10) and immunoglobulin A (IgA) levels were increased. In conclusion, synbiotics administration attenuated the negative feelings via the negative scale scores of TST in stressed participants by modulating the HPA-axis, IL-10, IgA, and LPS. In comparison, synbiotics administration for participants without stress did not benefit stress status but showed remodeling SCFAs components, HPA-axis, and tryptophan catabolism.

Hypercholesterolemia is one of the leading causes of cardiovascular disease. Probiotics can help to improve high blood lipid levels in hypercholesterolemia patients. Lactobacillus paracasei has been reported to have beneficial effects in several subjects; however, there is a lack of studies on Thai hypercholesterolemic subjects. Thus, this study was conducted in order to investigate the effect of L. paracasei HII01 on cholesterol, oxidative stress, and other biomarkers. Fifty-two subjects were randomized into two groups: the L. paracasei treatment group and the placebo group. The study was conducted over an intervention period of 12 weeks of supplementation. The results show that L. paracasei HII01 significantly reduced the total cholesterol (TCH), triglycerides (TGs), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of the patients, and increased their HDL, total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and propionic acid compared to the placebo group. Moreover, the supplementation of L. paracasei HII01 significantly increased lactic acid, IL-10 and IFN-γ, and substantially decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) at the end of the treatment. The results suggest that L. paracasei HII01 improves the blood lipid profile, reduces oxidative stress, and is beneficial for health among Thai hypercholesterolemic subjects.

Obesity is a worldwide health problem with a complex interaction between gut microbiota and cognition. Several studies have demonstrated that probiotic treatments improve characteristics linked to obesity. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of probiotic supplementation on the obesity indexes, inflammatory and oxidative stress markers, gut microbiota, and working memory in obese children. Ten obese children were assigned to receive the probiotics (8 × 10⁹ CFU of Lactobacillus paracasei HII01 and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis) for 12 weeks. Demographic data were recorded. Urine and fecal samples were collected to evaluate biomarkers related to obesity and cognition. Behavioral working memory was assessed using the visual n-back test. Electroencephalography was employed to measure electrical activity during the visual n-back test. All parameters were evaluated at the baseline and after 12 weeks. The results revealed that probiotic supplementation significantly altered some gut microbial metabolites, gut microbiota, total antioxidant capacity, and neuroinflammatory markers. However, no significant changes were observed in the visual n-back test or electroencephalographic recordings after 12 weeks. In conclusion, the use of probiotics might be an alternative treatment that could improve the gut microbial ecosystem and microbial metabolites, as well as host antioxidant and neuroinflammation levels. The preliminary results indicated that further detailed prolonged studies are needed in order to determine the beneficial effects of the studied probiotics.