Archive for category: News

2010 ISAPP meeting report was published in Functional Food Reviews, and is available open access.

Recent action by European Union may serve to suppress publication of research to substantiate health claims used in food labeling. Read article in Food and Drug Law Institute’s Update.

European Food Safety Authority published a scientific report titled “Bibliographic review on the potential of microorganisms, microbial products and enzymes to induce respiratory sensitization.” Report.

The conclusions from the ILSI Europe Prebiotic Task Force has been published, “Prebiotic Effects: Metabolic and Health Benefits”. Dr. Marcel Roberfroid served
as lead author on this paper, which was published in the British Journal of Nutrition. Link to article.

ISAPP board member, Michael Cabana, MD, MPH, offered commentary in the Journal of Pediatrics [157(5):864-5; 2010] regarding interpretation of recent metaanalysis
(Pediatrics 2010;125:921-30) on use of probiotics in NEC. He questioned the value of aggregating different probiotic preparations into one metaanalysis and  emphasized that – contrary to the opinions expressed in the metaanalysis – that further research is needed to assess the effectiveness of specific probiotic strains for NEC.

FASEB Summer Research Conference titled “Probiotics, Intestinal Microbiota and the Host: Physiological and Clinical Implications” will be held July 24-29, 2011, at Carefree Resort, Carefree, Arizona. Organizers: W. Allan Walker, MD, Harvard Medical School and Mary Ellen Sanders, PhD, ISAPP Executive Director. Additional program details will be available December 2010 at www.faseb.org/src.

Conference Considers Options for US Federal Regulation of Probiotics. On June 14, 2010, The University of Maryland School of Law hosted the first of a series of multidisciplinary meetings being held as part of a Human Microbiome Project ELSI (Ethical, Legal, Social Implications) grant to study federal regulation of probiotics. The project is headed by Diane E. Hoffmann, MS, JD, Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Director, Law and Health Care Program, University of Maryland School of Law. Participants in the conference included members of academia and the scientific research, business, legal and federal regulatory communities, and included two ISAPP board members, Gregor Reid and Mary Ellen Sanders . This initial meeting focused on identifying key regulatory issues and achieving a broad-based understanding of the science relating to probiotics and the current federal regulatory framework for probiotics. Subsequent sessions will focus on attempting to find answers to these questions. The next meeting is being planned for January 2011. June 14 meeting agenda.

ILSI Europe Functional Foods Task Force has issued a report “Beyond PASSCLAIM – Guidance to Substantiate Health Claims on Foods” from a meeting held 14-16 December 2009 in Nice, France.

Report

NIH/FDA-supported evidence-based review due out summer of 2010 titled
“Safety of Probiotics Used to Reduce Risk and Prevent or Treat Disease”

NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine announces funding opportunities in the area of probiotics and prebiotics. Information

At the 7^th annual meeting of ISAPP this past November, a student/fellow association (SFA) of ISAPP was founded. Under the insightful leadership of Delphine Saulnier, the organization has approved a constitution and started a website and Facebook page and proposed many additional activities. See http://www.isapp-sfa.com/ for information.

Third India Probiotics Symposium: “Probiotic Foods in Health and Disease”, held November 21-22, 2009, in New Delhi, featuring keynote address by ISAPP Past President,
Gregor Reid. Webcast