Entries by KC

ISAPP’s popular educational videos now feature subtitles in multiple languages

ISAPP’s series of six English-language videos are a useful resource for helping consumers answer important questions about probiotics, prebiotics, and fermented foods. In order to make these popular educational videos accessible to a wider global audience, ISAPP has now updated them with subtitles in multiple languages: Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish. […]

ISAPP take-home points from American Gastroenterological Association guidelines on probiotic use for gastrointestinal disorders

By ISAPP Board of Directors June 15, 2020 The recent American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Clinical Practice Guidelines on the Role of Probiotics in the Management of Gastrointestinal Disorders provided the AGA’s assessment of evidence. Considering these AGA recommendations for probiotics to prevent necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and C. difficile infection, all hospital formularies should stock at […]

What makes a synbiotic? ISAPP provides a sneak peek at the forthcoming international scientific consensus definition

By Kristina Campbell, science and medical writer The word ‘synbiotic’ is found on the labels of many different products, from supplements to chocolate bars, and it has generally been understood to be a combination of a probiotic and a prebiotic. But what happens when scientists want to test whether these combination products really deliver any […]

ISAPP welcomes three new board members

By Mary Ellen Sanders, PhD, ISAPP Executive Science Officer ISAPP is pleased to announce that Profs. Kelly Swanson PhD, Daniel Tancredi PhD, and Gabriel Vinderola PhD have joined the ISAPP board of directors. The expertise of these three globally recognized academic experts complements that of the current board members, together comprising a leading global group […]

How some probiotic scientists are working to address COVID-19

By ISAPP board of directors With the global spread of COVID-19, the scientific community has experienced an unusual interruption. Across every field, many laboratories are temporarily shuttered and research programs of all sizes are on hiatus. Principal investigators around the world are doing their part to keep their students and local communities safe, and many […]

Safety and efficacy of probiotics: Perspectives on JAMA viewpoint

By Mary Ellen Sanders PhD, executive science officer, ISAPP,  and Daniel Merenstein MD, Department of Family Medicine, Georgetown University School of Medicine The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) recently published a short viewpoint that called into question the safety and efficacy of probiotics. After careful review, we concluded that some opinions expressed were […]

New names for important probiotic Lactobacillus species

By Mary Ellen Sanders, PhD, and Sarah Lebeer, PhD The genus Lactobacillus was listed as the fifth most important category of living organism to have influenced the planet throughout its evolutionary history in a 2009 book, What on Earth Evolved?. From their central role in food fermentations around the globe to their ability to benefit […]

ISAPP Students and Fellows Association announce blog posting: A new way to share our work and perspectives

By Anna-Ursula Happel, president ISAPP-SFA and postdoctoral fellow at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town, South Africa Our professors keep telling us to write, write, write. Reports, papers, reviews, presentations. You can’t blame them as that’s what most of them had to do, and in a competitive environment academic output […]

[IN SPANISH] Creciente interés en Argentina en microorganismos benéficos y alimentos fermentados

Dr. Prof. Gabriel Vinderola, Investigador Principal CONICET, Instituto de Lactología Industrial (INLAIN, CONICET-UNL), Profesor Asociado, Cátedra de Microbiología, Facultad de Ingeniería Química, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santa Fe, Argentina. El interés sobre las bacterias intestinales, los alimentos fermentados y los probióticos está en aumento en Argentina y la región. Nutricionistas e influencers, que en los últimos años […]

Growing interest in beneficial microbes and fermented foods in Argentina

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 Awareness of gut microbes, fermented foods and probiotics has been on the rise in Argentina. Nutritionists and influencers, who in recent […]

The Horses: Daily Routines in the COVID-19 Era

By Gregor Reid BSc (Hons), PhD, MBA, ARM CCM, Dr HS, FCAHS, FRSC It’s dawn and as per every day, I put on my mask. It’s not the type of mask you might think in these anxious times. It’s to prepare hay bags for our two horses. Hay, filled with the dust and mold particles […]

Can probiotics and prebiotics go viral?

By Prof. Glenn Gibson, Food Microbial Sciences Unit, Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, The University of Reading, UK I usually think that psychics are pretty funny and are to be avoided, but what about this from Sylvia Browne published in 2008? “In around 2020 a severe pneumonia-like illness will spread throughout the globe, attacking […]

A Miracle Treatment! Or Not?

By Daniel J. Merenstein, MD, Professor, Department of Family Medicine and Director of Research Programs, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington DC Here’s a scenario for a physician: A drug rep walks into your office. She has a new product she wants to talk to you about. You are super excited to talk to her as […]

The FDA’s view on the term probiotics, part 1

By James Heimbach, Ph.D., F.A.C.N., JHEIMBACH LLC, Port Royal, VA Over the past 20 years as a food and nutrition regulatory consultant, I have filed about 40 GRAS notices with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including 15 strains of probiotic bacteria and 5 prebiotics. This fall I submitted notices dealing with 4 […]

ISAPP discussion group leads to new review paper providing a global perspective on the science of fermented foods and beverages

By Kristina Campbell, MSc, Science & Medical Writer Despite the huge variety of fermented foods that have originated in countries all over the world, there are relatively few published studies describing the microbiological similarities and differences between these very diverse foods and beverages. But in recent years, thanks to the availability of high throughput sequencing […]

Misleading press about probiotics: ISAPP responses

By Mary Ellen Sanders, PhD, Executive Science Officer, ISAPP It seems over the last couple of years, open season on “probiotics” has been declared. Responding in a scientifically accurate fashion to misleading coverage, whether it is in reputable scientific journals or in the lay media, takes time and care. I want to be clear: well-conducted […]