Entries by Mary Ellen Sanders

Free Webinar: Why is everybody talking about gut microbiota?

Coming up on Thursday, June 28th ISAPP Board Member Professor Glenn Gibson will be featured in a free webinar discussing gut microbiota. Hosted by the British Nutrition Foundation, the webinar will examine what we know about gut microbiota and what remains to be explored. Research on gut microbiota has indicated the gut has a role […]

ISAPP board members share expertise in probiotic workshop in Buenos Aires

ISAPP board members, Prof. Seppo Salminen and Dr. Mary Ellen Sanders, along with over a dozen other renowned experts from the Southern Cone, Europe and Canada, participated in a workshop in Buenos Aires organized by Ricardo Weill of Instituto Danone Cono Sur April 26-27, 2018. The purpose of the workshop was two-fold. One goal was […]

ISAPP Releases 2017 Annual Report

The 2017 Annual Report on ISAPP’s activities to advance scientific excellence in probiotics and prebiotics is now available. The Report covers the 2017 Annual Meeting in Chicago IL, as well as the publications, webinars, meetings and other activities accomplished during the past year. Finally, ISAPP is grateful to the 43 Industry Advisory Committee Members who […]

Medscape Webinar on Probiotics April 17

Prof. Dan Merenstein MD and Mary Ellen Sanders, PhD will present a 30 min webinar titled, “Navigating the World of Probiotics: Helping Patients Make Good Choices” April 17 at 12:30 ET*. Developed by Medscape, the target audience is medical professionals. Dr. Sanders will provide basic information about choosing probiotics and Prof. Merenstein will discuss the strength […]

Updated Clinical Guide to Probiotics Now Available

Want some guidance on knowing which probiotic products have been tested for which clinical benefits, and understand the level of evidence supporting those benefits? Check out the 2018 versions of Clinical Guide to Probiotic Products Available in USA and Clinical Guide to Probiotic Products Available in Canada. Currently, these are the only 2 geographical regions covered […]

The need to improve in vitro testing of future probiotics

By Prof. Gabriel Vinderola, Instituto de Lactología Industrial (INLAIN, UNL-CONICET), National University of Litoral, Argentina and Prof. Seppo Salminen, Functional Foods Forum, Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku, Finland In a recent review we compared the in vitro tests for probiotics to the in vivo studies to observe if correlations exist. Lactobacilli and bifidobacteria have […]

Those who can’t do science, do science communication?

By Dr. Colin Hill See what I did there?  I used a title which I hope will attract the attention (or wrath) of science communicators but then put a question mark which allows me to disagree with the hypothesis posed – a good science communication bit of ‘click-baiting’. But now that I have hopefully got […]

ISAPP to host live webinar: Microbial metabolism associated with health

Update April 16, 2018:  Recording and slides from the webinar available here. The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP), in partnership with the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) Europe’s Prebiotics and Functional Foods Task Forces, has jointly organized a free webinar, titled “Microbial Metabolism Associated with Health”. The webinar runs April 12th, 2018 at 15:00 CET, […]

Academics working with industry  

by Dr. Colin Hill, APC Microbiome Ireland & School of Microbiology, University College Cork, Ireland Many scientists have reservations about working with industry.  While characterising it as going over to the dark side might be an overstatement, there is a certain wariness that principles may have to be compromised (in terms of the ambition of […]

Two Free Webinars on Probiotics!

Both webinars – eligible for continuing education credit – on probiotics involving ISAPP board members are scheduled. The first is scheduled for Thursday, March 15th 11am-noon CST. It  features Mary Ellen Sanders, PhD on the topic of “Be a Pre and Probiotic Pro” and is sponsored by General Mills Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition. Register here. […]

You’d think we’d know probiotics by now

Prof. Gregor Reid, PhD MBA, Lawson Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, Canada When I took my MBA, it was primarily to understand business and its relationship with science. I thought I learned quite a lot, but some things puzzle me to this day. Marketers know that messages are more effective when repeated. But, a […]

ISAPP Goes to India

By Mary Ellen Sanders PhD and Dan Merenstein MD ISAPP sent two key-note speakers to the Probiotics Association of India meeting, held Feb 16-17 in New Delhi. Prof. Dan Merenstein MD spoke on “Evidence for clinical indications: how do probiotics measure up?” and Dr. Mary Ellen Sanders addressed “Is it time for live cultures to […]

Probiotics: the importance of the complete product

February 11, 2018. By Dr. Olaf F.A. Larsen, Assistant Professor (0.2 FTE) at Athena Institute, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Science Manager at Yakult Netherlands. Probiotics are, according to the WHO and later updated by a consensus panel convened by ISAPP, defined as “live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health […]

ISAPP BOARD MEMBERS TO PARTICIPATE IN PEDIATRIC PROBIOTIC CONFERENCE IN ITALY

ISAPP Board Members, Professors Michael Cabana MD MPH and Seppo Salminen PhD, will be participating in the 4th Annual Prebiotics and Probiotics in Pediatrics conference in Bari, Italy April 12-14, 2018. Prof. Cabana will be chairing a panel on colic and will discuss findings from a meta-analysis of L. reuteri as an intervention for colic. This meta-analysis, published December 2017, was the outcome of discussion groups convened at […]

Global FoodOmics: A Crowd-Sourced Window Into Microbes In Our Foods

January 25, 2018. By Mary Ellen Sanders, PhD , Dairy & Food Culture Technologies Among the factors under our control, diet may be the most important determinant of our gut microbiota. Observations from the American Gut Project suggest that foods containing live microbes increase fecal bacterial diversity, which is generally associated with a healthy gut. An initiative, Global FoodOmics, was launched […]

Do dietary effects on gut microbiota promote health in older individuals? Reid and colleagues gain insights into microbiota composition across the lifespan

January 22, 2018. By Dr. Gregor Reid ISAPP Board of Directors member Dr. Gregor Reid recently co-authored a cross-sectional study in a cohort of over 1000 very healthy Chinese participants from 3 to over 100 years of age in order to gain insights on ‘healthy’ microbiota composition and whether this changes with age. Using next-generation […]

ISAPP RELEASES NEW INFOGRAPHIC: “PROBIOTICS: DISPELLING MYTHS”

How often do you hear information about probiotics that is just plain wrong? Too often write-ups on probiotics in blogs, websites, articles written by the lay press, and even sometimes in scientific journals is not true to the science. The latest ISAPP infographic corrects several common misconceptions about probiotic dose, sweetened probiotic yogurts, fermented foods, and more. […]

ISAPP works to have evidence-based usage of probiotics to prevent antibiotic-associated diarrheoa implemented in UK

January 12, 2018. Antibiotics are amongst the most commonly prescribed drugs in UK hospitals. However, as well as treating infection they can cause disruption to the gastrointestinal microbiota. This can lead to the relatively common side-effect of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea (AAD) which often delays discharge. More concerning is that a disruption to the normal gut microbiota […]

ISAPP Digs Deeper into Evidence on Probiotics for Colic with New Meta-Analysis

January 3, 2018. Evidence exists for gut microbiota differences between infants with and without colic, with one probiotic strain of particular interest therapeutically for colicky infants: Lactobacillus reuteri DSM17938. Discussion groups convened at the 2014 and 2016 ISAPP meetings, both led by Prof. Michael Cabana MD MPH of University of California, San Francisco, and member […]

The Times They Are A-Changin’ With Probiotics

December 15, 2017. By Prof. Daniel Merenstein, MD, Department of Family Medicine, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington DC. I had a surprising encounter a few weeks ago in the clinic. I was caught off guard, had to take a step back and think about what happened. I recommended to my patient that she take a […]

Fermented foods, health and ISAPP

By Mary Ellen Sanders PhD, Executive Science Officer, ISAPP It seems that fermented foods have ‘arrived’. Just within the community of ISAPP board members, fermented foods and their importance to health have been a topic of great interest. The idea that adding foods containing live microbes may be sound dietary advice has been reflected in […]

ISAPP releases new infographic: “Probiotics for Healthy People”

November 20, 2017. Probiotics are most commonly studied with for populations with a specific condition—frequent examples include diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, and pouchitis. But what kind of evidence exists on probiotics for healthy people? A new ISAPP infographic gives an overview of what we know about the use of probiotics in healthy individuals. The resource […]