The Hygienic Significance of Microbiota and Probiotics for Human Wellbeing.

This useful paper examines the need to balance hand hygiene to prevent infections and intestinal and skin hygiene which allows us to sustain a healthy skin and gut microbiome.

The human body can be viewed as a combination of ecological niches inhabited by trillions of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites, all united by the microbiota concept. Human health largely depends on the nature of these relationships and how they are built and maintained. However, personal hygiene practices have historically been focused on the wholesale elimination of pathogens and “hygiene-challenging microorganisms” without considering the collateral damage to beneficial and commensal species.

Personal hygiene is not typically associated with the GIT; however, functional foods, dietary supplements, or probiotics designed to modulate the host microbiome with the purpose of maintaining or improving health, should also be considered as personal hygiene products in the same way as toothpaste is for dental hygiene.
Disturbance of the microbiota is a predisposing factor for development of diseases and greatly influences the course and severity of complications. Application of personal hygiene products or probiotics must not compromise health through disruption of the microbiota. This review highlights the importance of the microbiota in maintaining a healthy body as well as the possibility of its modulation through the use of probiotics for the prevention and treatment of certain human diseases

Todorov SD, Tagg J, Algburi A, Tiwari SK, Popov I, Weeks R, Mitrokhin OV, Kudryashov IA, Kraskevich DA, Chikindas ML. The Hygienic Significance of Microbiota and Probiotics for Human Wellbeing. Probiotics and Antimicrobial Proteins. 2024 Dec 17:1-31.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12602-024-10419-9