Entries by KC

The American College of Gastroenterology recommends against use of probiotics for primary or secondary prevention of C. difficile

October 19, 2021 in Uncategorized /by

By Prof. Daniel Merenstein MD, Georgetown University School of Medicine and Prof. Eamonn Quigley MD FRCP FACP MACG FRCPI,  Houston Methodist Hospital and Weill Cornell Medical College The American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) recently published ACG Clinical Guidelines: Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Clostridioides difficile Infections. This review considers probiotics for prevention of CDI. The […]

The USDA Global Branded Food Products Database is Now Accepting Data on Live Microbes – Call for Data Submission

October 7, 2021 in ISAPP Science Blog /by

Marie E. Latulippe, MS, RDN, Director of Science Programs and Brienna Larrick, PhD, PMP Scientific Program Manager, Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences (IAFNS), Washington DC As noted by Marco et al. (2020), evidence from observational studies and randomized controlled trials suggests that the consumption of safe, live microbes can support health. […]

Should the concept of postbiotics make us see probiotics from a new perspective?

October 5, 2021 in ISAPP Science Blog, Uncategorized /by

By Dr. Gabriel Vinderola, PhD,  Associate Professor of Microbiology at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering from the National University of Litoral and Principal Researcher from CONICET at Dairy Products Institute (CONICET-UNL), Santa Fe, Argentina In early May 2021 an ISAPP consensus panel  defined postbiotics as “a preparation of inanimate microorganisms and/or their components that confers […]

Virtual events continue to fill gaps as in-person meetings are being planned

September 24, 2021 in News /by

Prof. Bob Hutkins, PhD, University of Nebraska – Lincoln, USA For scientists, annual meetings provide coveted opportunities to hear about the latest scientific advances from expert researchers, and they are where students and trainees get to present their research, often for the first time. Of course, meeting and socializing with colleagues, both new and old, […]

Using probiotics to support digestive health for dogs

September 21, 2021 in ISAPP Science Blog /by

By Kelly S. Swanson, PhD, The Kraft Heinz Company Endowed Professor in Human Nutrition, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA Because dogs are considered to be members of the family by most pet owners today, their health and well-being is a top priority. As with humans, nutritional products supporting gastrointestinal health are some of the […]

Do antibiotics ‘wipe out’ your gut bacteria?

August 25, 2021 in Consumer Blog, ISAPP Science Blog /by

By Dr. Karen Scott, University of Aberdeen, UK Antibiotics have been an important tool in medicine to kill pathogenic bacteria and treat infectious diseases for many decades. But for most of those decades, scientists had limited awareness of the community of ‘good’ microbes that reside in our guts and other parts of the body. Now […]

Can control of body malodor using probiotic topical cream be considered as a health benefit?

July 26, 2021 in ISAPP Science Blog /by

By Victoria Onwuliri, Masters degree student, with Dr. Kingsley C. Anukam, Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Health Sciences and Technology, College of Health Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi Campus, Nnewi, Anambra State, Nigeria. I recall years back as a teenager, axillary sweating and pubertal odor were one of the overwhelming challenges I experienced. […]

Bacterial vesicles: Emerging potential postbiotics

July 22, 2021 in ISAPP Science Blog /by

By Dr. Gabriel Vinderola, PhD,  Associate Professor of Microbiology at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering from the National University of Litoral and Principal Researcher from CONICET at Dairy Products Institute (CONICET-UNL), Santa Fe, Argentina The recently published ISAPP consensus paper defines a postbiotic as “a preparation of inanimate microorganisms and/or their components that confers a […]

What do we mean by ‘conferring a health benefit on the host’?

July 2, 2021 in Consumer Blog, ISAPP Science Blog /by

By Prof. Colin Hill, University College Cork, Ireland Four of the Consensus definitions produced by ISAPP in recent years (see 1-4 below) finish with a similar wording, insisting that probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics and postbiotics must “confer a health benefit on the host”. This proviso was included to explicitly reinforce the fact that the raison d’etre […]

ISAPP welcomes Anisha Wijeyesekera, PhD, as new board member

June 27, 2021 in News /by

As of the June, 2021 virtual annual meeting, the ISAPP board of directors is pleased to welcome a new member-at-large: Anisha Wijeyesekera, PhD – Lecturer in Human Microbiome, Diet & Health in the Food Microbial Sciences Unit, Department of Food & Nutritional Sciences, University of Reading, UK. Wijeyesekera is an early career researcher with expertise […]

A postbiotic is not simply a dead probiotic

June 22, 2021 in ISAPP Science Blog /by

By Dr. Gabriel Vinderola, PhD,  Associate Professor of Microbiology at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering from the National University of Litoral and Principal Researcher from CONICET at Dairy Products Institute (CONICET-UNL), Santa Fe, Argentina Postbiotics, recently addressed in an ISAPP consensus panel paper, are defined as a preparation of inanimate microorganisms and/or their components that […]

Pharmacists as influencers of probiotic use

June 15, 2021 in ISAPP Science Blog /by

By Kristina Campbell, science writer It’s not an uncommon scene in a pharmacy: someone standing in front of the shelf of probiotic products, picking up various bottles and reading the labels, looking uncertain. The person’s doctor may have recommended a certain brand of probiotic to prevent diarrhea with a prescribed course of antibiotics—but they’ve just […]

Follow up from ISAPP webinar – Probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, postbiotics and fermented foods: how to implement ISAPP consensus definitions

June 7, 2021 in ISAPP Science Blog /by

By Mary Ellen Sanders PhD, Executive Science Officer, ISAPP On the heels of the most recent ISAPP consensus paper – this one on postbiotics – ISAPP sponsored a webinar for industry members titled Probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, postbiotics and fermented foods: how to implement ISAPP consensus definitions. This webinar featured short presentations outlining definitions and key […]

ISAPP’s Inaugural Early Career Researcher Prize Awarded to Two Rising Star Probiotic Scientists

June 4, 2021 in News /by

This year, ISAPP established a prize for early career researchers with the goal of recognizing individuals who contribute substantial research findings in the fields of probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, postbiotics and fermented foods. The criteria for this award included evidence of impact through citizenship, general outreach and citations, as well as a dissertation with novel contributions […]

ISAPP thanks Prof. Glenn Gibson as he retires from the organization’s board of directors

June 3, 2021 in News /by

By Mary Ellen Sanders, PhD, ISAPP Executive Science Officer Glenn Gibson – co-founder and backbone of ISAPP for over 20 years – has retired from the ISAPP board of directors. In 1999, Glenn, Irene Lenoir-Wijnkoop and I conceived of ISAPP as a scientific ‘home’ for the multidisciplinary scientists involved in probiotic and prebiotic research. In […]

The Human Mycobiome: An ISAPP mini-symposium

May 13, 2021 in ISAPP Science Blog, News /by

ISAPP announces an open registration mini-symposium on the human mycobiome. Although the contribution of the intestinal microbiome in human physiology is well-studied, the specific role of intestinal fungi, the gut mycobiome, is not well understood. Yet they may play an important role in shaping host development and health. For example, the evidence that fungi are […]

A roundup of the ISAPP consensus definitions: probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, postbiotics and fermented foods

May 11, 2021 in ISAPP Science Blog /by

By Dr. Mary Ellen Sanders, PhD, ISAPP Executive Science Officer ISAPP has long recognized the importance of precise definitions of the ‘biotic’ family of terms. As a scientific organization working to advance global knowledge about probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, postbiotics and fermented foods, we believe carrying out rigorous scientific studies—and comparing one result to another—is more […]

Do new product formats need new clinical trials?

May 7, 2021 in ISAPP Science Blog /by

By Marla Cunningham​, Metagenics Global R&D Innovation Manager and 2021 ISAPP Industry Advisory Committee representative Let’s assume a hypothetical clinical study has been published with positive impacts of a yoghurt containing Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus strain XYZ in children with atopic dermatitis. If the strain is now to be incorporated into a fruit drink, at the clinically […]

Behind the publication: Understanding ISAPP’s new scientific consensus definition of postbiotics

May 5, 2021 in ISAPP Science Blog /by

A key characteristic of a probiotic is that it remains alive at the time of consumption. Yet scientists have known for decades that some non-living microorganisms can also have benefits for health: various studies (reviewed in Ouwehand & Salminen, 1998) have compared the health effects of viable and non-viable bacteria, and some recent investigations have […]

Children and dogs in a household share gut microbes – and these microbes are modified by a canine probiotic

April 30, 2021 in Consumer Blog, ISAPP Science Blog /by

From longtime family pets to ‘pandemic puppies’, dog ownership is seemingly more popular than ever. In households with children, scientists have found that a pet dog is one of the environmental factors that influences the gut microbiota in early life – but can the microbes that children and dogs share be modified? A new study […]

What’s a Clinician to do When the Probiotic Recommendations from Medical Organizations Do Not Agree?

March 21, 2021 in ISAPP Science Blog /by

By Prof. Hania Szajewska, MD, Department of Paediatrics, The Medical University of Warsaw, Poland The scientific literature on probiotics is growing rapidly, with newly published studies continually adding to the sum of information about the probiotic strains that confer health benefits in specific populations. In research, we make hypotheses. Eventually, they are resolved by collecting […]

ISAPP publishes continuing education course for dietitians

March 11, 2021 in ISAPP Science Blog, News /by

For dietitians, it’s often difficult to find practical, up-to-date resources with a scientific perspective on probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics and fermented foods. ISAPP is pleased to announce a new resource to fill this need – a Special Continuing Education Supplement in Today’s Dietitian titled, “Evidence-based use of probiotics, prebiotics and fermented foods for digestive health”. This […]

What’s the evidence on ‘biotics’ for health? A summary from five ISAPP board members

March 9, 2021 in Consumer Blog, ISAPP Science Blog /by

Evidence on the health benefits of gut-targeted ‘biotics’ – probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, and postbiotics – has greatly increased over the past two decades, but it can be difficult to sort through the thousands of studies that exist today to learn which of these ingredients are appropriate in which situations. At a recent World of Microbiome […]