Abstract
AbstractPurposeThe aim of this study was to evaluate the use of probiotic products in Hungary, to explore consumers' knowledge of probiotics, and to gain information about the main characteristics of current usage.Materials and MethodsThe research used a self-developed explorative questionnaire to obtain the necessary information. The data collected was further analysed with IBM SPSS 25.0 and Microsoft Office Excel.ResultsNearly three-quarters of respondents (73.9%) have used probiotics in their life. Those who have already used these products, mostly heard about them from doctors (62.8%) and friends/relatives (40.5%), while among non-users the main sources of information were web pages (46.8%) and commercials (45.2%).ConclusionsWe found several differences between users and non-users in terms of probiotics awareness. Consequently, healthcare providers may play an important role in the process of careful product choice and proper usage.
Highlights
To date, the commonly accepted definition of probiotics is the one that was created by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization
The results showed that nearly three-quarters of participants (n 5 226, 73.9%) had used some kind of probiotic product in their life, one-fifth of them (n 5 62, 20.3%) knew about them but never used them and only 5.9% (n 5 18) had never even heard the term “probiotic”
Our results showed that the majority of the respondents believed that they are aware of what the term “probiotics” means and most of them were able to choose the correct definition as well
Summary
The commonly accepted definition of probiotics is the one that was created by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization. These research studies are testing the possible therapeutic and preventive effects of these products in several fields, but the results of these experiments and surveys are not comparable because of the use of different methods, probiotic strains and means of administration [2, 3]. Besides this extensive scientific interest, the probiotic market is expanding continuously, showing the increasing popularity of probiotic products among non-professional consumers as well. It should be important that the consumers have the correct information about the appropriate choice of products, label interpretation and adequate usage, because the regulation of these categories is much less strict than if they were pharmaceutical products
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