COMMON ERA
A Roman naturalist named Pliney the Elder recommends drinking fermented milk to treat intestinal problems.
Elie Metchnikoff, a Russian scientist, from the Pasteur Institute of Paris, studies lactic acid bacteria. He theorizes that lactic acid bacteria, or friendly bacteria, provide a type of protection from intestinal autointoxication.
Alfred Nissle, a German physician and scientist, uses Escherichia coli to treat intestinal diseases, such as Shigella and Salmonella, with great success.
St. John’s University researchers Daniel Lilly and Rosalie Stillwell are the first to coin the term "probiotics" and define them as "a substance produced by one microorganism stimulating the growth of another microorganism."
The Human Microbiome Project finds that Christensenella minuta is the most heritable species in the gut and that it can directly affect the weight of its host.
Probiotics/prebiotics are the third most used natural products.
In America, $36.6 billion was spent on probiotic products.
