Synergistic Welfare of Synbiotic Nutraceuticals on Reproductive Health

The human microbiome composed by bacteria, archaea, viruses, and other eukaryotic microbes possesses huge potential to impact human physiology. Like other components of the human body, the microbiome undergoes various challenges throughout an individual’s life span. For this instance, it has been established that the disruption in the makeup of native human microbiome or microbiota dysbiosis can influence the development of multiple chronic diseases that carry a high burden of care. In terms of the reproductive system, male microbiota dysbiosis in the seminal fluid and female microbiota dysbiosis in the vaginal, placental, and endometrial areas can strongly influence an individual’s fertility with a detrimental impact on preterm birth, neonatal illnesses, pregnancy outcomes, and overall reproductive health. Besides, the gut microbiota, where the largest concentration of the human microbiome is found, is also involved in the endocrine system, interacting with reproductive hormones such as estrogen, androgens, and progesterone. Over the recent years, the roles of nutrition in maintaining health and counteracting diseases are becoming increasingly crucial in addition to their basic role in supplying essential nutrients for an optimal body growth and development. These include probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics, which health benefits have been the subject of extensive research, as these functional foods have been shown to alter, modify, and recover human microbiota from its dysbiotic state to achieve homeostasis and re-establish the composition of a native microbiota. This chapter offers an insight into the role of synbiotics in beneficially modulating the human microbiome and their potential in treating a wide range of reproductive disorders for maintaining a good reproductive health.