Probiotics

Probiotics

In-depth analyses of probiotic benefits, properties and challenges aiming to advance probiotic knowledge for the benefit of consumer health

 

Task Force Information

Objectives and list of Task Force members

Contact Information

Contact details in case you have specific questions

Activity Overview

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upcoming activities

Expert Groups

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Publications

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Task Force

Multimedia

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Completed Expert Groups

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each activity

Task Force Information

Objectives

Consumers, the scientific community, regulators and the food and dietary supplement industry show increasing interest in probiotics and their health benefits. The attention of the task force is thus focused on the understanding of the role of probiotics in health and disease, their mechanisms of action while increasing awareness of their direct/indirect benefits on health.

Task Force Members

WP DataTables

* Scientific Advisors

Contact Information

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

Activity Overview

Upcoming activities

- Benefits, challenges, and opportunities with changes in the maternal microbiome

Through a narrative review, experts will develop an inventory of microbiota changes associated with physiological temporal changes in the maternal microbiota before, during and after pregnancy as well as with related clinical observations, and highlight mother and/or infant health benefits and challenges associated with those changes.

Start date: December 2023 | End date: Q4 2024

- Consumer perspective on postbiotics

The Expert Group will identify research areas and health benefits that resonate with consumers through a cross-sectional survey.

Start date: October 2023 | End date: Q4 2024

In the pipeline

- Probiotic clinical design studies

Join to shape this activity together!

Expert Groups

Benefits, challenges, and opportunities with changes in the maternal microbiome before and during pregnancy

Background and objectives

During pregnancy, especially during the third trimester, the maternal microbiota is undergoing considerable changes in the gut, the vagina and, as recently shown, the endometrium. Interestingly, the maternal microbiome has now emerged as an important factor for a healthy pregnancy as well as a cause of pregnancy-related health issues e.g. preterm birth. Indeed, emerging research has started to link microbial dysbiosis and specific microbial populations with pregnancy complications. Thus, it is important to understand the context of physiological temporal microbial changes during pregnancy and mechanisms by which these changes can impact health outcomes. Furthermore, the use of probiotics during pregnancy is not a standard practice; however, given the importance of the microbiota for various health outcomes, it is crucial to better understand maternal microbiota changes, natural or induced, before and during pregnancy, their impact on maternal health and underlying mechanisms of action, as well the potential role of probiotics to optimise maternal health outcomes based on these insights. The activity will detail the mechanistic consequences of maternal microbiota changes, and discuss early observations from probiotic clinical studies, to identify opportunities for optimised use ofprobiotics during pregnancy. The experts will identify and review

Output

Narrative review

Expert group members

 

Postbiotics: consumer knowledge, understanding and gap analysis to guide future scientific research

Background and Objectives

Typically, scientific research is not based on
consumer perspective and does not resonate with the general public. This activity aims for an opposite approach: use consumer insights to guide future research. In order to identify research areas and health benefits that resonate with consumers and to address their concerns and gaps in knowledge, this expert group will conduct a cross-sectional survey to guide future scientific research. Improved understanding of the consumer perspective will enable the scientific community to address topics that are of interest to the consumer and highlight where additional efforts are needed most.

Output

  • Cross-sectional survey
  • Consumer information leaflet
  • Peer-reviewed publication

Expert Group Members

 

WP DataTables

Publications

All Publications

Small intestine vs. colon ecology and physiology: Why it matters in probiotic administration

We provide a detailed review unfolding how the physiological and anatomical differences between the small and large intestine affect gut microbiota composition, function, and plasticity. This information is key to understanding how gut microbiota manipulation, including probiotic administration, may strain-dependently transform host-microbe interactions at defined locations.

Read more

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Research on gut microbiota has generally focused on fecal samples, representing luminal content of the large intestine. However, nutrient uptake is restricted to the small intestine. Abundant immune cell populations at this anatomical site combined with diminished mucus secretion and looser junctions (partly to allow for more efficient fluid and nutrient absorption) also results in intimate host-microbe interactions despite more rapid transit. It is thus crucial to dissect key differences in both ecology and physiology between small and large intestine to better leverage the immense potential of human gut microbiota imprinting, including probiotic engraftment at biological sensible niches. Here, we provide a detailed review unfolding how the physiological and anatomical differences between the small and large intestine affect gut microbiota composition, function, and plasticity. This information is key to understanding how gut microbiota manipulation, including probiotic administration, may strain-dependently transform host-microbe interactions at defined locations.

This review focusses its narrative on the intimate relationship between the host and its bacterial constituents of the small and large intestine.

Dowload the full paper

or click on the images below to download the EG one-pager summary and graphical abstract

Commissioned by the Probiotics Task Force 

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Humans often show variable responses to dietary, prebiotic, and probiotic interventions. Emerging evidence indicates that the gut microbiota is a key determinant for this population heterogeneity. Here, we provide an overview of some of the major computational and experimental tools being applied to critical questions of microbiota-mediated personalized nutrition and health. First, we discuss the latest advances in in silico modeling of the microbiota-nutrition-health axis, including the application of statistical, mechanistic, and hybrid artificial intelligence models. Second, we address high-throughput in vitro techniques for assessing inter-individual heterogeneity, from ex vivo batch culturing of stool and continuous culturing in anaerobic bioreactors, to more sophisticated organ-on-a-chip models that integrate both host and microbial compartments. Third, we explore in vivo approaches for better understanding personalized, microbiota-mediated responses to diet, prebiotics, and probiotics, from non-human animal models and human observational studies, to human feeding trials and crossover interventions. We highlight examples of existing, consumer-facing precision nutrition platforms that are currently leveraging the gut microbiota. Furthermore, we discuss how the integration of a broader set of the tools and techniques described in this piece can generate the data necessary to support a greater diversity of precision nutrition strategies. Finally, we present a vision of a precision nutrition and healthcare future, which leverages the gut microbiota to design effective, individual-specific interventions.

Download the full article here

or click on the image below to download the one-pager summary.

One-pager PRE PRO EG Prediction of indv. responses

Commissioned by the Prebiotics and Probiotics Task Forces.

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Citation: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6394212

The scientific understanding of prebiotic and probiotic mechanisms has grown substantially in recent years. Although effects are often strain and product specific, some prebiotic and probiotic benefits may be driven by common, shared mechanisms and may therefore be generalizable. The use of emerging physiological and analytical tools in a multidisciplinary research setting will enable the elucidation of further mechanisms. In this way, it will be possible to improve the understanding of prebiotic, probiotic and synbiotic health effects. Based on recent sound scientific evidence, the monograph is a valuable reference work, aimed at informing a wide audience about the intestinal microbiota and the prebiotic and probiotic nutritional concepts.

  • To download the English version, click here.
  • To download the Portuguese version, click here.
  • To download the French version, click here.
  • To download the Spanish version, click here.
  • To download the Slovak version, click here.
  • To download the Japanese version, click here.
  • To download the Chinese version, click here.

Click on the image below to download the one-pager summary.

One-pager PRE PRO concise monograph

Commissioned by the Prebiotics and Probiotics Task Forces.

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Early Nutrition and Long-Term Health

Nutrition and Brain Health

Nutrition, Immunity and Inflammation

Prebiotics

Probiotics

GUT MICROBIOME AND HEALTH and NUTRITION AND CONSUMER SCIENCE

The gut and brain link via various metabolic and signalling pathways, each with the potential to influence mental, brain and cognitive health. Over the past decade, the involvement of the gut microbiota in gut-brain communication has become the focus of increased scientific interest, establishing the microbiota-gut-brain axis as a field of research. There is a growing number of association studies exploring the gut microbiota's possible role in memory, learning, anxiety, stress, neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. Consequently, attention is now turning to how the microbiota can become the target of nutritional and therapeutic strategies for improved brain health and well-being. However, while such strategies that target the gut microbiota to influence brain health and function are currently under development with varying levels of success, still very little is yet known about the triggers and mechanisms underlying the gut microbiota's apparent influence on cognitive or brain function and most evidence comes from pre-clinical studies rather than well controlled clinical trials/investigations. Filling the knowledge gaps requires establishing a standardised methodology for human studies, including strong guidance for specific focus areas of the microbiota-gut-brain axis, the need for more extensive biological sample analyses, and identification of relevant biomarkers. Other urgent requirements are new advanced models for in vitro and in vivo studies of relevant mechanisms, and a greater focus on omics technologies with supporting bioinformatics resources (training, tools) to efficiently translate study findings, as well as the identification of relevant targets in study populations. The key to building a validated evidence base rely on increasing knowledge sharing and multi-disciplinary collaborations, along with continued public-private funding support. This will allow microbiota-gut-brain axis research to move to its next phase so we can identify realistic opportunities to modulate the microbiota for better brain health.

To download this open-access article, please click here.

This work was conducted in collaboration with the Early Nutrition and Long-Term Health, Nutrition and Brain Health, Nutrition, Immunity and Inflammation, Prebiotics and Probiotics Task Forces.

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Research on gut microbiota has generally focused on fecal samples, representing luminal content of the large intestine. However, nutrient uptake is restricted to the small intestine. Abundant immune cell populations at this anatomical site combined with diminished mucus secretion and looser junctions (partly to allow for more efficient fluid and nutrient absorption) also results in intimate host-microbe interactions despite more rapid transit. It is thus crucial to dissect key differences in both ecology and physiology between small and large intestine to better leverage the immense potential of human gut microbiota imprinting, including probiotic engraftment at biological sensible niches. Here, we provide a detailed review unfolding how the physiological and anatomical differences between the small and large intestine affect gut microbiota composition, function, and plasticity. This information is key to understanding how gut microbiota manipulation, including probiotic administration, may strain-dependently transform host-microbe interactions at defined locations.

This review focusses its narrative on the intimate relationship between the host and its bacterial constituents of the small and large intestine.

Dowload the full paper

or click on the images below to download the EG one-pager summary and graphical abstract

Commissioned by the Probiotics Task Force 

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Multimedia

Introductory video

One-Pager

Completed Expert Groups