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.
Japanese probiotics giant Yakult says the writing into law of its rejected EU health claim for upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) benefits won’t alter its core sell in European markets that remained, “stable”.
Dutch-based food research firm NIZO has evolved a wild plant isolate of Lactococcus lactis (L.Lactis) that it says could open the floodgates to fermented dairy products with new functionalities.
The quality of probiotic supplements sold in Belgian pharmacies is set to rise following the establishment of a new voluntary programme to highlight products “consumers can trust”.
Danish probiotics giant Chr Hansen today launched probiotic pellets into a “big gap” in the global juice market for long-life probiotics, with carton maker, TetraPak onboard to deliver the technology.
Food, drink and supplement makers across the European Union’s 27-member states are free to make cholesterol-lowering health claims after an oat beta-glucan health claim passed into EU law books yesterday.
EFSA has approached an expert who has already worked with its health claims panel to make a report on the characterisation of probiotic strains – an issue that led to the rejection of 260 out of 300 probiotic health claim dossiers - and most of which...
Swedish probiotics supplier Probi has announced an alliance with an unnamed “major multinational” food company that will assist it in its quest to win the first probiotic health claim in the European Union.
Combining calcium phosphate supplements with probiotic Lactobacillus paracasei may enhance the colonization of the probiotic in the gut, and boost reductions in LDL cholesterol levels, says a new study with humans.
Probiotic bacteria consumed in a yogurt may not change the host’s gut populations, but they do influence carbohydrate metabolism by the resident microbes, according to an ‘elegant’ new study using identical twins and germ-free mice.
