Department of Biology, College of Science, Mathematics and Technology, Wenzhou-Kean University, 88 Daxue Road, Ouhai, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, 325060, China; Department of Biology, Dorothy and George Hennings College of Science, Mathematics and Technology, Kean, University, 1000 Morris Ave, Union, NJ, 07083, USA
Haiyi Zhao
Department of Biology, College of Science, Mathematics and Technology, Wenzhou-Kean University, 88 Daxue Road, Ouhai, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, 325060, China; Department of Biology, Dorothy and George Hennings College of Science, Mathematics and Technology, Kean, University, 1000 Morris Ave, Union, NJ, 07083, USA
Aloysius Wong
Department of Biology, College of Science, Mathematics and Technology, Wenzhou-Kean University, 88 Daxue Road, Ouhai, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, 325060, China; Department of Biology, Dorothy and George Hennings College of Science, Mathematics and Technology, Kean, University, 1000 Morris Ave, Union, NJ, 07083, USA; Wenzhou Municipal Key Lab for Applied Biomedical and Biopharmaceutical Informatics, Ouhai, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, 325060, China; Zhejiang Bioinformatics International Science and Technology Cooperation Center, Ouhai, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, 325060, China; Corresponding author. Department of Biology, College of Science, Mathematics and Technology, Wenzhou-Kean University, 88 Daxue Road, Ouhai, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, 325060, China.
Probiotics have long been associated with a myriad of health benefits, so much so that their adverse effects whether mild or severe, are often neglected or overshadowed by the enormous volume of articles describing their beneficial effects in the current literature. Recent evidence has demonstrated several health risks of probiotics that warrant serious reconsideration of their applications and further investigations. This review aims to highlight studies that report on how probiotics might cause opportunistic systemic and local infections, detrimental immunological effects, metabolic disturbance, allergic reactions, and facilitating the spread of antimicrobial resistance. To offer a recent account of the literature, articles within the last five years were prioritized. The narration of these evidence was based on the nature of the studies in the following order of preference: clinical studies or human samples, in vivo or animal models, in situ, in vitro and/or in silico. We hope that this review will inform consumers, food scientists, and medical practitioners, on the health risks, while also encouraging research that will focus on and clarify the adverse effects of probiotics.
