ABSTRACT
The loss to humanity that incurred due to Covid-19 pandemic is immense in terms of the number of people who lost their lives and even people, who contacted the SARS-Cov2 virus and have survived, who now display lowered immunity, mental stress, unemployment, and economic burden. As realized, vaccine development and clinical trials consume a lot of time and resources from the point of view of their therapeutic design, administration, and cost. Under such circumstances, natural therapeutics like probiotics and prebiotics—which could boost immunity—can be used as potential immunity boosters and antiviral drugs. Covid-19 leads to gut dysbiosis and interferes with the gut microbiota, and here comes probiotics and prebiotics to our rescue as they can help in the restoration of the microbiota along the gut-lung axis. With the growing realization of the importance of functional foods, a balanced diet, and healthy lifestyle habits for the promotion of good health, the research on prebiotics and probiotics is growing exponentially. The beneficial effects exerted by probiotics are due to microbial colonization in a particular organ, while the prebiotics are nondigestible fibers from food that can boost the production and endurance/ viability of probiotics. © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.