Consumption of common dietary fibres may promote beneficial shifts in gut bacteria that may lead to better intestinal health, suggesting the fibres may have prebiotic applications, say researchers.
For someone more acquainted with ingredients expos in Europe and the US, walking around the vast halls of Food Ingredients Asia-China (FIC) in Shanghai today made me realise what a small percentage of the continent's nutrients industry fills those...
The potential benefits of probiotic ingredients in sports nutrition products may extend beyond immune support, as emerging evidence suggests a potential to enhance protein utilization.
The 5-year, $173m (€138m) Human Microbiome Project has completed with a 14-article publication blitz in journals like Nature that spells out some of its pioneering findings into the make-up and behavior of the human microbiota.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) this week rejected 74 probiotic health claim dossiers it had been sent for a second reading after many of them were initially turned down for reasons such as inadequate strain characterisation. Its rejection logic...
Hopes that the resubmission of 74 probiotic health dossiers would win a sector-first claim in the EU have been dashed after the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) held its earlier line and unanimously rejected them all.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) may have rejected 100% of the probiotic health claim applications that have in recent years appeared in its inbox, leading some to suggest the end of claim-making in the sector, but member state actions are demonstrating...
Clinical data from King’s College in the UK has shown significant Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) reduction for a proprietary probiotic-fibre blend offered by UK start-up, Symprove.
The controversial European Union article 13 health claim list has this morning been published in the Official Journal of the European Union, giving companies until December 14 to get their claim-making in order.
It’s official. Companies have six months – until December – to comply with the controversial European Union article 13, general function health claims register which today won final approval from the European Commission.
Vitafoods celebrates its 15th birthday next week. It’ll be my 11th consecutive May visit to Geneva for the jamboree and promises to be one of the most intriguing chapters with the (partial and belated) resolution of years of ambiguity regarding health...
Consumption of probiotics is associated with a reduced risk of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea, according to a review and meta-analysis of previous studies.
Probiotic research needs to change in its basic paradigm, so that it takes an over-arching approach to addressing issues with both technology and functionality, according to new research.
First half EBIT profits for 2011-12 surged 19% to €83m at Chr Hansen as it shrugged off the effects of severe fluctuations in the price of red colorant carmine, and ongoing probiotic health claim uncertainty in Europe – its biggest yet most stagnant market.
Supplements containing the probiotic BLIS K12 ingredient may inhibit the growth of the yeast responsible for oral thrush, suggests new in vitro data that supports the oral health potential of the ingredient.
Israeli omega-3 and probiotic supplements manufacturer Anlit has teamed up with Finnish supplements marketer Axellus Group on a lactose-free probiotic chew aimed primarily at children.
The key to submitting a successful health claims dossier under the EU Heath and Nutrition Claims Regulation (NHCR) lies in focusing on one single risk factor, and is the main reason why probiotic claim applications have been knocked back, advises Essi...
Indians are dosing up on probiotics to counter gastrointestinal health problems, reports Swedish biotech company Probi, as it announces a deal that will see its Probi Digestis probiotic formulation dispensed to millions of Indian consumers.
Nutritional researcher and trial designer Biofortis has opened a new HQ that will centralise its four main operations near the western French city of Nantes.
The addition of pre and probiotics to infant formula could help to boost immune responses by colonising newborn babies’ guts with a stable population of beneficial bacteria, say researchers.
An increased focus on food and nutrition is expected to become a major sales growth driver at DuPont in 2012, according to the company’s executive vice president James Borel.
The newly formed Global Alliance for Probiotics (GAP) has issued its first public statement, affirming that a complete rethink of probiotic health claim rules is required in the European Union, and forwarding industry rights to take part in that process.
The human nutrition division of French yeast and probiotic specialist Lesaffre says a new probiotic dossier will win Europe’s first ever probiotic health claim due to the existence of, “3-4 proprietary studies”.
Danone has formed the Global Alliance for Probiotics (GAP) with other sector giants like Yakult, DuPont-Danisco and Chr Hansen as the frustrated industry seeks to win a first European Union health claim.
Consumer demand for health and wellness beverages worldwide is leading to greater convergence between soft drinks and dairy beverages, according to Rabobank.
The UK Department of Health has indicated nutrition-style claims like ‘contains glucosamine’ or ‘contains probiotics’ will be deemed implied health claims if they are the subject of negative EFSA opinions.
Swedish probiotics player BioGaia is welcoming a 5-year, €50.8m extension to a licensing deal with Nestlé for use of its Lactobacillus reuteri probiotic strain in infant nutrition products.
Global probiotics leader Danone continues to prepare for the worst under the European Union’s uber-strict health claims regime that may this year deliver a barren, claimless landscape to the world’s biggest-selling functional food category, an official...
A Danone official has said the resolution of characterisation issues may not be enough to win positive opinions for a batch of probiotic health claims just resubmitted to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
Advances in genomics and understanding the human gut microbiota will lead to the discovery of probiotic bacterial strains that will deliver biomarker-measured health benefits – but it may take 10-15 years, according to a leading researcher.
Per capita spending on probiotic supplements is forecast to almost double over the next five years in the US, according to market researcher Euromonitor International.
Loopholes in the law may save probiotic yogurt manufacturers from having to remove products from sale when the new EU nutrition and health claims legislation comes into effect.
Paola Testori Coggi, the director general of the EC’s Health and Consumer Health Directorate (DG Sanco), yesterday presented a health claims register containing 222 approvals and about 2000 rejections to a European Parliament (EP) committee, as lobbying...
A sugary outer coating produced by probiotic bacteria could help them to survive in the good and may also offer clues to how they block some bacterial infections, say researchers.
The Italian Ministry of Health has revised probiotic characterisation, labelling and claim guidelines that may open claim-making around the idea of microflora balance.
“Currently, there is a gap between the point where the biomedical science ends (with the publication of a paper in a scientific journal) and the point where the business begins (with the claim for a health benefit).”
Combining probiotics and prebiotics to produce a symbiotic may reduce the severity of eczema in children, suggests new research from Taiwan with 60 children.
Modified probiotics could help to reduce the risk of food borne infections such as Listeria by blocking the bacteria from entering the body in the gut, say researchers.
Consuming a vegan or vegetarian diet results in different profiles of gut microflora, with lower levels of potentially pathogenic bacteria such as E. coli, says a new study.
Lactobacillus reuteri-containing gum can significantly reduce halitosis, Danish researchers have found, although the mechanism of action remains a mystery.
Jarrow Rogovin, never a man to mince his words, says it is high time the IPA and other trade groups stepped up to the plate to defend a sector that has been under regulatory siege on both sides of the Atlantic for several years.
Yakult failed to present the most basic evidence and sought a too-complicated immunity claim in the controversially rejected immunity health claim for its probiotic drinks, a UK consultant has said.
