Prebiotics

Investigating the potential of prebiotics to rebalance and maintain health

Task Force Information

Objectives and list of Task Force
members

Contact Information

Contact details in case you have
specific questions

Activity Overview

Overview of ongoing and
upcoming activities

Expert Groups

Objectives, output and list of experts
involved in each activity

Publications

List of publications of this
Task Force

Multimedia

Links to Task Force's related documents,
recordings and much more...

Completed Expert Groups

Details including experts involved of
each activity

Task Force Information

Objectives

A prebiotic is a food ingredient that selectively stimulates growth and/or the activity of microbial species inhabiting the host, which may bring about health benefits.
A better understanding of mechanisms of prebiotics is still needed. The task force aims at providing mechanistic insights linking prebiotics to individual health benefits.

Task Force Members

*Scientific Advisor

Contact Information

For more detailed information, please contact Naomi Venlet at nvenlet@ilsieurope.be

Activity Overview

Expert workshop to identify knowledge gaps and a roadmap for building a health claims portfolio - Upcoming -

Objectives

Identify underlying gaps in our mechanistic understanding and possible means of filling these gaps. The activity will seek to bring together leading scientific experts, industry leaders and independent regulatory advisors, in an interactive and creative environment to identify current gaps in our mechanistic understanding, and importantly, propose the next steps necessary to fill these gaps.

Expected results

Workshop and workshop report

Cognitive Performance, gut microbiome and and role of Prebiotics - Upcoming

Objectives

This activity will focus on identifying the most promising cognitive domains for prebiotics interventions and aims to elaborate what could be transferred from studies from the diseased population to the healthy general population.

Expected results

Peer-reviewed publication

Expert Groups

Role of prebiotics in cognitive functioning: What do we know and where to go next?

Background and objectives

Cognition comprises the mental processes of attending to, understanding of, remembering, and utilizing information. Cognition is influenced by genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors, including nutrition. In fact, recent evidence suggests that prebiotics may influence cognitive functioning via the microbiota-gut-brain axis. This may occur by modulating the microbiota composition and function, resulting in signal transduction via nervous, endocrine, and immune pathways to the brain and central nervous system.

Output

A perspective article that provides a short synopsis of the field, and proposes a list of recommendations to move the field forward. Specifically, it will highlight the need to perform studies in healthy participants that test the potential “rescuing” effects of prebiotics under conditions where cognition may be transiently compromised. Ultimately, such studies would allow better estimation of the magnitude of effects of prebiotics, since current studies largely yield null findings.

Expert group members

Edit Table

Role of prebiotics in bacterial and viral infection, and vaccination efficiency – NEW

Background and Objectives

Recent research, including human clinical research, gut microbiota effects and resultant metabolites, suggests a beneficial effect of non-digestible carbohydrates-type prebiotics consumption on immunity and resistance to infections. In this context, the purpose of this review is to collect and assess the scientific evidence and provide academic and industry scientists working in the prebiotic field with answers regarding the potential impact on viral and bacterial diseases and vaccination efficacy.

Output

The review will give the current status for prebiotics impact on infections, both prevention or recovery, and in supporting vaccination efficacy, for academics and industry scientists in this field. Especially in the SARS-Cov2 crisis, such a review may offer guidance to academia and industry to propose research or to manufacture food products with prebiotics for healthier diets to support immunity in vulnerable individuals.

Expert Group Members

Edit Table

Publications

Filter

White Papers/Reports

No results.

WP_Query Object
(
    [query] => Array
        (
            [post_type] => publication
            [posts_per_page] => 5
            [type] => 
            [area] => 
            [committee] => Prebiotics
            [authors] => 
            [showtitle] => 
            [meta_query] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [key] => _ilsi_type
                            [value] => white-paper-report
                            [compare] => =
                        )

                )

            [tax_query] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [taxonomy] => ilsi_committee
                            [field] => name
                            [terms] => Prebiotics
                        )

                )

            [paged] => 2
            [meta_key] => _ilsi_date
            [orderby] => meta_value
            [order] => DESC
        )

    [query_vars] => Array
        (
            [post_type] => publication
            [posts_per_page] => 5
            [type] => 
            [area] => 
            [committee] => Prebiotics
            [authors] => 
            [showtitle] => 
            [meta_query] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [key] => _ilsi_type
                            [value] => white-paper-report
                            [compare] => =
                        )

                )

            [tax_query] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [taxonomy] => ilsi_committee
                            [field] => name
                            [terms] => Prebiotics
                        )

                )

            [paged] => 2
            [meta_key] => _ilsi_date
            [orderby] => meta_value
            [order] => DESC
            [error] => 
            [m] => 
            [p] => 0
            [post_parent] => 
            [subpost] => 
            [subpost_id] => 
            [attachment] => 
            [attachment_id] => 0
            [name] => 
            [pagename] => 
            [page_id] => 0
            [second] => 
            [minute] => 
            [hour] => 
            [day] => 0
            [monthnum] => 0
            [year] => 0
            [w] => 0
            [category_name] => 
            [tag] => 
            [cat] => 
            [tag_id] => 
            [author] => 
            [author_name] => 
            [feed] => 
            [tb] => 
            [meta_value] => 
            [preview] => 
            [s] => 
            [sentence] => 
            [title] => 
            [fields] => 
            [menu_order] => 
             => 
            [category__in] => Array
                (
                )

            [category__not_in] => Array
                (
                )

            [category__and] => Array
                (
                )

            [post__in] => Array
                (
                )

            [post__not_in] => Array
                (
                )

            [post_name__in] => Array
                (
                )

            [tag__in] => Array
                (
                )

            [tag__not_in] => Array
                (
                )

            [tag__and] => Array
                (
                )

            [tag_slug__in] => Array
                (
                )

            [tag_slug__and] => Array
                (
                )

            [post_parent__in] => Array
                (
                )

            [post_parent__not_in] => Array
                (
                )

            [author__in] => Array
                (
                )

            [author__not_in] => Array
                (
                )

            [search_columns] => Array
                (
                )

            [ignore_sticky_posts] => 
            [suppress_filters] => 
            [cache_results] => 1
            [update_post_term_cache] => 1
            [update_menu_item_cache] => 
            [lazy_load_term_meta] => 1
            [update_post_meta_cache] => 1
            [nopaging] => 
            [comments_per_page] => 50
            [no_found_rows] => 
            [taxonomy] => ilsi_committee
            [term_id] => Prebiotics
        )

    [tax_query] => WP_Tax_Query Object
        (
            [queries] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [taxonomy] => ilsi_committee
                            [terms] => Array
                                (
                                    [0] => Prebiotics
                                )

                            [field] => name
                            [operator] => IN
                            [include_children] => 1
                        )

                )

            [relation] => AND
            [table_aliases:protected] => Array
                (
                    [0] => wp_3_term_relationships
                )

            [queried_terms] => Array
                (
                    [ilsi_committee] => Array
                        (
                            [terms] => Array
                                (
                                    [0] => Prebiotics
                                )

                            [field] => name
                        )

                )

            [primary_table] => wp_3_posts
            [primary_id_column] => ID
        )

    [meta_query] => WP_Meta_Query Object
        (
            [queries] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [key] => _ilsi_date
                        )

                    [1] => Array
                        (
                            [0] => Array
                                (
                                    [key] => _ilsi_type
                                    [value] => white-paper-report
                                    [compare] => =
                                )

                            [relation] => OR
                        )

                    [relation] => AND
                )

            [relation] => AND
            [meta_table] => wp_3_postmeta
            [meta_id_column] => post_id
            [primary_table] => wp_3_posts
            [primary_id_column] => ID
            [table_aliases:protected] => Array
                (
                    [0] => wp_3_postmeta
                    [1] => mt1
                )

            [clauses:protected] => Array
                (
                    [wp_3_postmeta] => Array
                        (
                            [key] => _ilsi_date
                            [compare] => =
                            [compare_key] => =
                            [alias] => wp_3_postmeta
                            [cast] => CHAR
                        )

                    [mt1] => Array
                        (
                            [key] => _ilsi_type
                            [value] => white-paper-report
                            [compare] => =
                            [compare_key] => =
                            [alias] => mt1
                            [cast] => CHAR
                        )

                )

            [has_or_relation:protected] => 
        )

    [date_query] => 
    [request] => 
					SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS  wp_3_posts.ID
					FROM wp_3_posts  LEFT JOIN wp_3_term_relationships ON (wp_3_posts.ID = wp_3_term_relationships.object_id) INNER JOIN wp_3_postmeta ON ( wp_3_posts.ID = wp_3_postmeta.post_id )  INNER JOIN wp_3_postmeta AS mt1 ON ( wp_3_posts.ID = mt1.post_id )
					WHERE 1=1  AND ( 
  wp_3_term_relationships.term_taxonomy_id IN (40)
) AND ( 
  wp_3_postmeta.meta_key = '_ilsi_date' 
  AND 
  ( 
    ( mt1.meta_key = '_ilsi_type' AND mt1.meta_value = 'white-paper-report' )
  )
) AND ((wp_3_posts.post_type = 'publication' AND (wp_3_posts.post_status = 'publish' OR wp_3_posts.post_status = 'acf-disabled')))
					GROUP BY wp_3_posts.ID
					ORDER BY wp_3_postmeta.meta_value DESC
					LIMIT 5, 5
				
    [posts] => Array
        (
        )

    [post_count] => 0
    [current_post] => -1
    [before_loop] => 
    [in_the_loop] => 
    [comment_count] => 0
    [current_comment] => -1
    [found_posts] => 0
    [max_num_pages] => 0
    [max_num_comment_pages] => 0
    [is_single] => 
    [is_preview] => 
    [is_page] => 
    [is_archive] => 1
    [is_date] => 
    [is_year] => 
    [is_month] => 
    [is_day] => 
    [is_time] => 
    [is_author] => 
    [is_category] => 
    [is_tag] => 
    [is_tax] => 1
    [is_search] => 
    [is_feed] => 
    [is_comment_feed] => 
    [is_trackback] => 
    [is_home] => 
    [is_privacy_policy] => 
    [is_404] => 
    [is_embed] => 
    [is_paged] => 1
    [is_admin] => 
    [is_attachment] => 
    [is_singular] => 
    [is_robots] => 
    [is_favicon] => 
    [is_posts_page] => 
    [is_post_type_archive] => 
    [query_vars_hash:WP_Query:private] => 20ff88e60a728ae05425ab2f76eb2f6a
    [query_vars_changed:WP_Query:private] => 
    [thumbnails_cached] => 
    [allow_query_attachment_by_filename:protected] => 
    [stopwords:WP_Query:private] => 
    [compat_fields:WP_Query:private] => Array
        (
            [0] => query_vars_hash
            [1] => query_vars_changed
        )

    [compat_methods:WP_Query:private] => Array
        (
            [0] => init_query_flags
            [1] => parse_tax_query
        )

)

Multimedia

Introductory video

 

 

Poster

Understanding the Prebiotics Metabolic and Health Effects

Webinars

'Toolsets for Mining the gut Microbiome to Enable Precision Nutrition'
Watch the Webinar
'Understanding Prebiotic and Probiotic Mechanisms that Drive Health Benefits'
Watch the Webinar
'Webinar on Microbial Metabolism Associated with Health'
Watch the Webinar

Completed Expert Groups

Overview of completed activities since 2021

* To see the full output of the task force, please visit the Task Force publication list