Prevalence of Probiotic Use

Prevalence of Probiotic Use Among Patients in The USA

Yi et al. (2016) published a survey of probiotic use among 145 hospitals in the United States. They note that 96% of hospitals surveyed used probiotics but that many specific probiotics used in hospitals lack convincing evidence of efficacy.

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Recommendations for Probiotic and Prebiotic Use from the Journal of Family Practice

January 6, 2016. The Journal of Family Practice published a paper recommending probiotics or prebiotics. The paper grades available evidence for IBS, IBD, antibiotic associated diarrhea, acute infectious diarrhea, traveler’s diarrhea, eczema and diabetes and recommends specific uses for patients. Authors state: “There’s evidence to suggest that probiotics, prebiotics, and a high-fiber diet can help […]

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Flow Cytometry for Probiotic Enumeration

January 4, 2016. The International Dairy Federation in conjunction with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has released a method for quantifying starter cultures and probiotics used in dairy products. This method – which would replace the decades-old plate count method – can be adapted to high-throughput analysis, reducing testing time and improving precision. The […]

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CFSAN Nutrition Program Review Report

The FDA Law Blog reported on a documented prepared in December 2014 by the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. The report was obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.  The Nutrition Program Review Report focused on prioritizing CFSAN activities in order to enhance nutrition for Americans. Of interest to ISAPP in this […]

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ISAPP Consensus Panel Paper on Probiotics: “Hot Paper” on Web of Science

Stakeholders in the probiotic field continue to find value in the expert consensus document, The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics consensus statement on the scope and appropriate use of the term probiotic, published in 2014 in Nature Reviews in Gastroenterology and Hepatology. This paper has earned accolades of “Highly Cited Paper” and “Hot […]

Hania Szajewska

Prof. Hania Szajewska Receives Award for Work on Nutrition and Health in Children

Professor Hania Szajewska of the Medical University of Warsaw received the A.I. Virtanen Prize of 10,000 Euros for her research on nutrition and health in children. Professor Szajewska delivered a lecture titled “The benefits of probiotics in childhood” after receiving the award. The award is named for Artturi Ilmari Virtanen, the only Finnish winner of […]

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USP Holds Workshop on Probiotics

November 24, 2015. Last week, U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) convened a workshop to discuss the value of probiotic monographs, including technical challenges that exist in developing them. USP can provide third-party verification of probiotic product content, which would improve end-user confidence in probiotic products. USP was established in 1820 and functions today as a scientific […]

ISAPP Brings Its Message to China

November 9, 2015. ISAPP Board Members Prof. Gregor Reid and Prof. Glenn Gibson traveled to China delivering the message of the importance of the science of probiotics and prebiotics. Report.

FDA Reconsiders IND Requirement for Food Research

October 30, 2015. FDA issued a stay on some provisions of their guidance pertaining to the need for an IND for human research on foods. ISAPP, along with other stakeholders involved in food research, filed comments objecting to guidance position that most human research needed to be conducted under an IND. The section of the […]

ISAPP Sponsors Scientific Session in Bangkok

July 31, 2015. Three ISAPP board members (Drs. Salminen, Quigley and Sanders) and a gastroenterologist from University of Singapore (Dr. Reuben Wong) traveled to Bangkok to speak in an ISAPP-organized symposium at the Asian Federation of Societies of Lactic Acid Bacteria. The symposium focused on “The Future of Probiotics and Prebiotics.” The local hosts provided gracious […]