A role of probiotic beverages in human health with special references to probiotic milk

The numerous perceived health benefits and the growing awareness about probiotics have caught the attention of the food industry. Food companies are increasingly manufacturing foods with incorporated probiotic bacteria, which fall under the new category of foods called Functional Foods. Probiotic dairy products such as yogurts containing L. acidophilus and Bifidobacterium spp. constitute a significant amount among the commercially available probiotic foods. Functional foods have been developed in most food categories and even by conservative estimates, the global market size already exceeds that for organic foods. In addition to providing consumers options for improving their health and well-being, functional foods such as probiotics in dairy products are an attractive market sector, providing new economic opportunities

ANTIASTHMATIC POTENTIAL OF SOME MEDICINAL PLANTS

Despite progress made in modern medical science herbal drugs constitute a major share of all the officially recognized systems of health in India viz. Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy and Naturopathy. More than 70% of India’s 1.1 billion populations still use these non-allopathic systems of medicine. Asthma severity is the intrinsic intensity of the disease process and dictates which step to initiate treatment. Asthma is a most common chronic inflammatory syndrome characterized by airway narrowing, recurrent episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness and coughing, particularly at night and awaking in the morning. Ayurveda and other Indian literature mention the use of plants in various human ailments. Researchers conducted in the last few decades on the plants mentioned in ancient literature or used traditionally for anti-asthmatic activity. This article reveals that some plants and their extract have anti-asthmatic activity, which are helpful for researcher to develop new herbal formulations. In the recent years, interest in drugs of plant origin has been progressively increased