Probiotic - friend or foe?

Probiotics are modern-day panacea with claims to alleviate or cure everything from diarrhea to obesity and Alzheimer's disease. They seem effective for numerous conditions (e.g. antibiotic-associated diarrhea), although these views have been challenged recently. Greater issue is the lack of confirmed efficacy for majority of claims provided by producers. While offering products without adequate clinical research, industry has more simplistic approach for probiotic treatments, that is, 'one-formula-fits-all.' In contrast, recent studies showed different efficacies of probiotic mixtures with multiple strains without fully understanding factors behind it. Furthermore, important parameter for prescribing probiotic treatment is the individual native microbiota. Interactions among probiotic strains and microbiota need more research, so there is a long way paved with 'big data' and chemometric analysis before it is possible to make full use of probiotics.