A longtime ISAPP board member, Prof. Dan Merenstein MD of Georgetown University School of Medicine, has received a prestigious honor: election to the US National Academy of Medicine. With this recognition, Prof. Merenstein joins an elite group of fewer than 100 American scientists, doctors and other professionals selected each year for exceptional achievements in medicine […]
By Prof. Maria Marco PhD, University of California, Davis “Kills 99.9% of bacteria and viruses.” This percentage and others like it are frequently found on disinfectant labels. Ideally, the microbicidal effect of the product is sufficient to kill more than the numbers of the target pathogen or pathogens expected to be in the environment where […]
By Prof. Hania Szajewska MD PhD, Medical University of Warsaw, Poland Imagine you are a primary care pediatrician practicing in an area where respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are particularly common during the winter months. Due to the seasonal surge in viral infections, you might find yourself seeing 20-30 children per day with upper respiratory tract […]
By Dr. Rounak Chourasia PhD, National Agri-food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali, Punjab, India Food not only serves as a primary source of essential nutrients but also contains a wealth of potential bioactive compounds. Among these, peptides have garnered significant attention for their ability to impact health beyond basic nutrition. These short protein fragments, ranging from 2 […]
By Mary Ellen Sanders, PhD, Mary Ellen Sanders LLC, Probiotics Consulting, Prof. Bob Hutkins, PhD, University of Nebraska and Karen Scott PhD, Rowett Institute, University of Aberdeen. Nearly one in four Americans say digestive health is the most important aspect of their overall health, according to a 2022 International Food Information Council survey. Prebiotics – […]
By Kelly S. Swanson, PhD, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA Prebiotics (1) have long been appreciated for their benefits to digestive function, immunity, energy balance, and metabolism. From a nutritionist’s perspective, the best way to consume dietary fibers and prebiotics is by eating a healthy diet comprising adequate amounts of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. […]
By Dr. Gabriel Vinderola PhD, CONICET, National University of Litoral, Argentina While the conceptualisation of postbiotics varies among scientists, some recent actions may suggest that regulatory agencies around the world are starting to align with the ISAPP definition (Salminen et al. 2021), understanding postbiotics as preparations of inanimate microorganisms able to confer a health benefit. […]
At the 2024 annual scientific meeting in Cork, Ireland, the ISAPP board welcomed its newest member, Dr. Geoffrey Preidis MD PhD of Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital. ISAPP President Prof. Maria Marco PhD says, “We are thrilled to have Dr Preidis on our board. He is a great colleague and brings scientific […]
At the ISAPP 2024 annual meeting in July, the ISAPP board of directors ushered in the beginning of the next leadership term, with the role of President being taken on by Prof. Maria Marco PhD from UC Davis (USA). Prof. Marco had served the previous three years as Vice President while Prof. Dan Merenstein MD […]
By Prof. Colin Hill PhD, University College Cork I have been a Board member of ISAPP since 2009, serving as President from 2012 to 2015. This year, following our successful annual meeting in my home city of Cork, I have decided to step down and make way for new blood. It is normal when a […]
By Marla Cunningham, ISAPP Executive Director The use of probiotics in premature infants has been highly topical in recent months. Probiotic use for the prevention of necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) in preterm infants has been studied in over 65 randomised clinical trials, with systematic reviews showing significant reductions in NEC as well as all cause mortality. […]
By Prof. Daniel Merenstein MD and Dr. Mary Ellen Sanders PhD During the ISAPP 2024 meeting, an article titled, “Is there evidence to support probiotic use for healthy people?” was published. The authors concluded, “…we did not find a high level of evidence to support recommendations for other endpoints we reviewed for healthy people. Although […]
By Prof. Kristin Verbeke PhD, KU Leuven Short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), primarily acetate, propionate and butyrate, are the most abundant anions in the large intestine. They are mainly produced from bacterial fermentation of undigested carbohydrates. Since SCFA were found to activate the orphan G-protein coupled receptors GPR-41 and 43 (renamed as free fatty acid receptor […]
With increasing age and frailty come changes in the gut microbiota – leading scientists to ask whether targeting the gut microbiota using prebiotics could contribute to healthier aging. Of particular interest is whether prebiotics have the potential to affect brain health and cognitive performance in older adults. An intervention study led by researchers at King’s […]
By Prof. Colin Hill PhD DSc, University College Cork, Ireland ISAPP has provided consensus definitions for a number of biotics that confer a health benefit on the host. These include prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics and postbiotics, but here I want to put forward an argument that bacteriophages (phages) could qualify as a new member of the […]
By Prof. Seppo Salminen PhD, University of Turku, Finland When pigs are kept as livestock, ‘manipulative behaviour’ is relatively common and it most often consists of biting, touching, or close contact with ears or tails of pen mates, without always resulting in visible wounds. Such pig behavior can cause stress and sometimes results in physical […]
Fermented foods such as yogurt, kimchi, and fermented pickles have traditionally been associated with health benefits in countries around the world, but the science that backs these health benefits is relatively new. Amidst a growing number of scientific studies examining the health benefits of specific fermented foods, a new Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announcement […]
ISAPP’s board of directors is happy to announce the 2024 winner of the Gregor Reid Award for Outstanding Scholars in Developing Nations: Dr. Rounak Chourasia PhD, a research associate at the National Agri-food Biotechnology Institute in Mohali, Punjab (India). Dr. Chourasia’s work focuses on discovering microorganisms with specific properties that contribute to the enhanced health […]
The ISAPP selection committee for the Glenn Gibson Early Career Researcher Award is pleased to announce that Dr. Boushra Dalile PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at KU Leuven (Belgium), is the recipient of this year’s award. Dr. Dalile is a researcher who moved from studying psychology and cognitive neuroscience into biomedical sciences, completing her PhD in […]
The ISAPP board of directors is pleased to share that the winner of the inaugural Sanders Award for Advancing Biotic Science is Dr. Maria Pía Taranto PhD, a researcher at the Center of Reference for Lactobacilli at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CERELA-CONICET) in Argentina. Dr. Taranto leads the YOGURITO program, established in […]
By Kristina Campbell, Prof. Colin Hill PhD, Prof. Sarah Lebeer PhD, Prof. Maria Marco PhD, Prof. Dan Merenstein MD, Prof. Hania Szajewska MD PhD, Prof. Dan Tancredi PhD, Prof. Kristin Verbeke PhD, Dr. Gabriel Vinderola PhD, Dr. Anisha Wijeyesekera PhD, and Marla Cunningham Biotic science is an active field, with over 6,600 scientific papers published […]
By Prof. Daniel Tancredi, UC Davis, USA The best evidence for the efficacy of probiotics or prebiotics generally comes from randomized controlled trials. The proper design of such trials should strive to use the available resources to achieve the most informative results for stakeholders, while properly accounting for the consequences of correct and incorrect decisions. […]
Even though the human digestive tract extends from the mouth down through the small and large intestines, the study of probiotics and their activities has tended to focus on the colon. While the colon (or perhaps more accurately its proxy, the faecal sample) is relatively accessible and easy to study, recently some researchers have argued […]
By Prof. Sarah Lebeer PhD, University of Antwerp, Belgium September was an eventful month for me, as I had the privilege of participating in various scientific gatherings. These include co-organizing the 14th Symposium on Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB14) in the Netherlands (LAB symposium), attending the European Helicobacter and Microbiota Study Group workshop (EHMSG) in my […]
By Prof. Dan Merenstein MD, Georgetown University Medical Center, USA In September the New York Times published an article titled “What Obesity Drugs and Antidepressants Have in Common“. It was written by a physician who had personally struggled with weight issues and depression. In his personal journey with these health challenges, he hesitates to undergo […]
