Michail (Children's Medical Center, Wright State U. Boonshaft School of Medicine, US) and Sherman (The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada) present 24 papers that take an evidence-based approach towards examining the clinical role of probiotics--defined by the World Health Organization as "live microorganisms which, when consumed in adequate amounts as part of food, confer a health benefit"--in the prevention and treatment of diseases in pediatric patients. Introductory chapters discuss the basics of gastrointestinal physiology and mucosal immunology, the role of microflora in disease, mechanisms of probiotic regulation of host homeostasis, and safety issues of probiotic ingestion. The next section, on infant probiotics, includes chapters on neonatal and infant microflora and probiotics in infant dietetics. Later chapters discuss the role of probiotics in the prevention and treatment of necrotizing enterocolitis, irritable bowel syndrome, infectious diarrhea, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, pouchitis, antibiotic-associate diarrhea, and Helicobacter pylori infection. Remaining topics include probiotics in the treatment of allergies and asthma, probiotic products, and quality control of probiotics in food and dietary supplements. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)