This is from a 1996 article:

> Opinions about probiotics tend to be polarised. The literature shows evidence for efficacy in certain specific conditions, and this is a useful foundation on which to build. ... Much less impressiveare the suggestions that OTC probiotics can maintain or even boost healthiness in subjects who are not ill. Some products may fall short in terms of what they contain and the good they claim to do.  -- Hamilton‐Miller, Professor JMT. "Probiotics—panacea or nostrum?." Nutrition Bulletin 21.3 (1996): 199-203.

20 years later, the label "panacea" has followed probiotics:

> The benefits of probiotics in animals go beyond gut health, says an animal nutrition scientist, who claims the bacteria can play a vital role in ensuring more profitable and sustainable poultry production. -- "Thinking outside the gut – are probiotics the panacea for poultry production pains?" Jane Byrne, 28-Oct-2014 
http://www.feednavigator.com/Suppliers/Thinking-outside-the-gut-are-probiotics-the-panacea-for-poultry-production-pains

also

Probiotics and probiotic development
and commercialization have been embraced by
the poultry production industry and offer utility as
part of a pathogen intervention strategy.

The prebiotic is perhaps a newer scientific concept
than the probiotic and generally refers to nondigestible
feed ingredients with selective effects on the intestinal microbiota.

A report by the Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations (2007) stated that
"there were no industry-wide guidelines governing
the usage of the term prebiotic and that the world prebiotic
market offered over 400 prebiotic food products
with more than 20 companies producing oligosaccharides
and fibres to be used as prebiotics."

Historic perspective: Prebiotics, probiotics, and other alternatives to antibiotics
M. E. Hume. USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center,
Food and Feed Safety Research Unit, College Station, TX 77845

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