Targeting the gut microbiota to reduce the risk of disease. Where are we now?

A large number of studies indicated that alteration in gut microbiota composition and function, particularly in the early life, plays crucial role in health and disease. In pediatrics, evidence suggests that selected probiotics have the potential to prevent diseases, as well as to treat diseases (e.g., acute gastroenteritis). New data are available on prebiotics, including human milk oligosaccharides, synbiotics, and postbiotics. Gaining a better understanding of how microbiota is linked to health and disease is needed to develop next-generation modulators of the gut microbiota.