Anti-Helicobacter activity of medicinal plants and probiotics as alternatives for Helicobacter pylori treatment: Review article

Helicobacter pylori, a gram-negative bacterium, known factor for chronic active gastritis, stomach and peptic ulceration, which may progress to gastric cancer. It is also associated with other non-gastric diseases such as stroke, diabetes mellitus and alzheimer’s disease. Although conventional treatment achieved a great advancements in controlling H.pylori infection nowadays it is not effective thus it’s intended to find some other alternative sources that may be used alone or in combination with antibiotics to eradicate the infection. Recently published literature of natural sources such as plant -derived bioactive compounds and probiotics are studied for their reduced side effects and for being safe and inexpensive. However, the mechanism of action by which these herbs and probiotics exert their medicinal properties in H.pylori treatment is still not fully clear. In this review, we highlight the potential antibacterial mechanisms of some traditionally used bioactive compounds and their possible role on H.pylori colonization. On the other hand, we focused on the possible inhibitory role of probiotics in the eradication of H. pylori infection through the release of organic acids and their role in the stabilization of the gastric barrier function in order to decrease the mucosal inflammation, modulate H.pylori colonization and enhance compliance in infected patients.