Entries by KC

ISAPP board members look back in time to respond to Benjamin Franklin’s suggestion on how to improve “natural discharges of wind from our bodies”

/in News, Consumer Blog

Benjamin Franklin, born in 1706, was a multi-talented politician and scientist best known for his discoveries related to electricity. Historians say he was scientifically pragmatic—aiming not just to advance theories, but to solve the most vexing problems of the day. In 1780, when Franklin read about the intellectual contests being held by The Royal Academy […]

Video Presentation: Behind the scenes of the consensus panel discussion on the definition of fermented foods

/in ISAPP Science Blog

Numerous misunderstandings and questions exist around the concept of fermented foods. For example: If a food does not contain live microorganisms, can it still be a fermented food? Should the live microbes in fermented foods be called probiotics? Do fermentation microbes colonize the human gut? The first step in answering these questions is for scientists […]

ISAPP ha estado trabajando en colaboración con la Sociedad de Enterocolitis Necrotizante

/in Consumer Blog, News

La Asociación Científica Internacional para Probióticos y Prebióticos (ISAPP, por sus siglas en inglés), ha estado trabajando en colaboración con la Sociedad de Enterocolitis Necrotizante (NEC Society) en el desarrollo de una infografía sobre el rol de los probióticos en la prevención de la Enterocolitis Necrotizante (ECN). La ECN es una enfermedad intestinal que puede […]

The future is microbial: A post-pandemic focus on identifying microbes and metabolites that support health

/in Uncategorized, Consumer Blog, ISAPP Science Blog

By Prof. Maria Marco, Department of Food Science and Technology, University of California Davis, USA The COVID-19 pandemic has been a sobering reminder of the significance that microorganisms have on human life. Despite the tremendous scientific and medical advances of the twentieth century, our best precautions against the virus have been to practice the oldest […]

Creating a scientific definition of ‘fermented foods’

/in Consumer Blog, ISAPP Science Blog

By Prof. Maria Marco, Department of Food Science and Technology, University of California Davis, USA A panel of scientific experts was recently convened by ISAPP to discuss the state of knowledge on fermented foods. While there was much agreement on the underlying microbiological processes and health-related properties of those foods and beverages, our conversation on […]

Ambient yogurts make a global impact

/in Consumer Blog, ISAPP Science Blog

By Prof. Bob Hutkins, PhD, University of Nebraska Lincoln, USA Quick, which country consumes the most yogurt? Must be France? Or the Netherlands? Maybe Turkey? The United States, perhaps? Try none of the above: the answer is China. While many other countries consume way more yogurt than China on a per capita basis, China’s population […]

‘Probiotic’ on food labels in Europe: Spain adopts a pioneering initiative

/in ISAPP Science Blog, News

By Silvia Bañares, PhD in commercial law, attorney Barcelona Bar Association, Spain; and Miguel Gueimonde, Departamento de Microbiología y Bioquímica de Productos Lácteos, IPLA-CSIC, Villaviciosa, Asturias, Spain.  The word ‘probiotic’ has been absent from food products in most countries in Europe for years. Authorities there concluded that the word is an implied health claim, which is […]

ISAPP collaborates with NEC Society to help parents understand the role of probiotics in reducing the risk of necrotizing enterocolitis

/in Consumer Blog, News

By Dr. Mary Ellen Sanders, PhD, ISAPP Executive Science Officer To date, over 50 clinical trials on probiotics and necrotizing enterocolitis have been published. Medical organizations have considered the trials completed to date and have provided guidance (ESPHGAN) and recommendations (American Gastroenterological Association) for implementing probiotics in clinical practice. As important as the science on this […]

New ISAPP-led paper calls for investigation of evidence for links between live dietary microbes and health

/in ISAPP Science Blog, Consumer Blog

The past two decades have brought a massive increase in knowledge about the human gut microbiota and its links to human health through diet. And although many people perceive that regular consumption of safe, live microbes will benefit their health, the scientific evidence to date has not been sufficiently developed to justify adding a daily […]

Update on harmonized guidelines for probiotics being developed by the Codex Alimentarius

/in ISAPP Science Blog, News

By Prof. 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 December 2017, at the 39th session of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) in […]

Locally produced probiotic yogurt for better nutrition and health in Uganda

/in Consumer Blog, News

By Prof. Seppo Salminen, Director of Functional Foods Forum, University of Turku, Turku, Finland Can locally produced probiotic yogurt be a way to increase the health and wealth of people in resource-poor areas of Uganda? Recently Dr. Nieke Westerik, a researcher from the Netherlands, partnered with a local Ugandan team to explore a yogurt production […]

Probiotics to Prevent Necrotizing Enterocolitis: Moving to Evidence-Based Use

/in ISAPP Science Blog

By Ravi Mangal Patel, MD, Msc, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. rmpatel@nullemory.edu Twitter: @ravimpatelmd Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is one of the most lethal neonatal diseases, yet most people have never heard about it. The disease primarily affects preterm infants and is characterized by the development of […]

ISAPP board member Prof. Colin Hill receives Career Achievement Research Award from University College Cork

/in News

This month, ISAPP board member and former president Professor Colin Hill received a prestigious award from University College Cork (Ireland), where he has worked since 1992: The UCC Career Achievement Research Award. The prize honours leading researchers whose influential work has been recognized globally. Hill’s research interests lie in molecular microbiology—specifically, issues around infection. His […]

New Spanish-language e-book about fermented foods now available for download

/in News, Consumer Blog

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 Fermented foods and beverages such as yogurt, wine, beer, kefir, kombucha, kimchi, and miso are created with the help of microbes. […]

Opportunity for research grants to help understand evidence linking live dietary microbes and health

/in News, ISAPP Science Blog

For thousands of years, cultures across the globe have been consuming fermented foods, many of which contain diverse and numerous live microbes. Yet scientists are still puzzling over whether a greater intake of live microbes results in measurably better health. As part of long-term efforts to understand evidence for the health benefits of live dietary […]

Current status of research on probiotic and prebiotic mechanisms of action

/in ISAPP Science Blog

By Mary Ellen Sanders, PhD, ISAPP Executive Science Officer Human intervention studies in the fields of probiotics and prebiotics assess the health effects of these ingredients, whether it’s improving specific symptoms or preventing the occurrence of a health condition. Yet scientists in the field recognize the importance of learning the ‘chain of events’ by which […]

Citizen scientists step up for a research project on women’s health

/in ISAPP Science Blog

By Prof. Sarah Lebeer, Research Professor in Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Belgium Lactobacilli are a very important group of bacteria that live on the human body and in many other environments on Earth. They have been linked to human health for more than 100 years already, but mainly […]

Precision approaches to microbiota modulation: Using specific fiber structures to direct the gut microbial ecosystem for better health

/in ISAPP Science Blog, News

By now, hundreds of scientific articles show the differences in gut microbiota composition and function between states of health and disease, leading to the idea that gut microbiota modulation is a promising way to achieve better health. But in practice, changing the complex community of microbes in the gut has proved challenging—the gut microbiota of […]

New publication co-authored by ISAPP board members gives an overview of probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, and postbiotics in infant formula

/in News, ISAPP Science Blog

For meeting the nutritional needs of infants and supporting early development, human milk is the ideal food—and this is reflected in breastfeeding guidelines around the world, including the World Health Organization’s recommendation that babies receive human milk exclusively for the first six months of life and that breastfeeding be continued, along with complementary foods, up […]

New synbiotic definition lays the groundwork for continued scientific progress

/in ISAPP Science Blog

By Karen Scott, Mary Ellen Sanders, Kelly Swanson, Glenn Gibson, and Bob Hutkins When Glenn Gibson and Marcel Roberfroid first introduced the prebiotic concept in 1995, they also conceived that prebiotics could be combined with probiotics to form synbiotics. In 2011, Gibson and Kolida described additional criteria for defining synbiotics and proposed that synbiotics could […]

New Probiotic and Prebiotic Society Among Ibero-American Countries

/in News

By Prof. 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 On February 8, 2019, within the framework of the X Workshop of the Spanish Society for Microbiota, Probiotics and Prebiotics (SEMiPyP), […]

¿Cómo permanecen vivos los probióticos hasta el momento de ser consumidos?

/in Consumer Blog

Por Gabriel Vinderola, Dr. en Química, Investigador Principal del Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicos y Técnicas (CONICET) en el Instituto de Lactología Industrial (INLAIN, CONICET-UNL) y Profesor Asociado de la Facultad de Ingeniería Química de la Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Como docente-investigador, la mayor parte del tiempo se comparte con personas del ambito académico y […]