Abstract

The existence of human microbial communities has been known for over a century. It has taken just as much time to gain knowledge about the beneficial bacteria that people carry with them and to develop new insights into how to use them for health. Today, there is a lot of knowledge, some of which can be practically applied, while there is still a lot to explore and discover. This article begins with a reminder of terms related to the topic (microflora, microbiota, microbiome, probiotic, prebiotic, synbiotic, postbiotic), and the regulations of probiotics. The following chapters describe the probiotics developed in Estonia and used in Estonia – this is the information for which this article was born. Namely, in all refreshment courses where the microbiota is discussed, the participants have asked which probiotics should they recommend to their patients. Next, an overview of the development stages of the novel probiotics and an ecological principle of their action is given. Finally, combined use of probiotics and antibiotics is discussed.