Background
Probiotics are of growing interest within the scientific community, for consumers and for the food industry. They potentially provide functional health benefits. The interaction between the gut and intestinal flora and between resident and transient flora defines a new arena in physiology, an understanding of which would shed light on the ‘cross talk’ between humans and microbes.
Health claims on specific probiotics are accepted in the USA and Japan, and also in some European countries. However, there is a need for comprehensive and harmonised guidelines on the assessment of the characteristics of probiotics, and of foods containing them including: what constitutes a probiotic; how can the effects be identified, quantified and classified?
Objectives
The mission of the Task Force (TF) is to assess the physiological efficacy of probiotics. The results could guide the scientific substantiation of health claims on probiotics.
Activities
Guidance for Assessing Probiotics Beneficial Effects: How to fill the GAP – Guidance Document and Workshop
An Expert Group is preparing a ‘good practice’ document by evaluating the existing evidence for the effect of probiotics in the prevention and treatment of the following conditions:
- Inflammatory Bowel disease/Irritable bowel sydrome (IBD/IBS)
- Allergy
- Metabolism
- Risk of infection
The aim is to define guidelines for evaluating the efficacy for the next generation of human trials.
This work builds on PASSCLAIM – the Gut Health and immunity Expert Group, the ILSI Europe Nutrition and Immunity in Man Task Force and existing FAO/WHO guidelines.
The resulting document will be critically reviewed at an ILSI Europe workshop held in association with the International Dairy Federation (IDF), in Montreux, Switzerland, on 22-24 May 2008.
The objectives of the workshop are to:
- Provide input to this good practice document by the interpretation of the available data for demonstrating functionality.
- Scope future research and the next generation of studies.
Question & Answer Document on Probiotics: Facts and Fiction
The task force is finalising a validated Question and Answer document on probiotics. It will be posted on the ILSI Europe website and sent to subscribers via the electronic Newsflash, it will be dynamic and open to additions and comments. With the probiotic field moving so quickly this will provide a forum to enable a quick response to emerging issues.
Impact
The work of the task force is contributing to the scientific understanding and underpinning of health claims regulations. It will be of relevance to the European Commission’s research programme, with the outputs giving ILSI Europe leadership in a topic of worldwide growing interest.
The evaluation of the range of activities will allow for fair comparison between different strains of probiotics and various products. Regulators will benefit from a guideline on the evaluation of the probiotics-related claims. Ultimately, the scientific substantiation of claimed benefits could increase the confidence of consumers in claims.
A working relationship has been established with the IDF/ISO Joint Action Team on Probiotics. The IDF/ISO JAT is represented as observer at the TF meetings in order to ensure coordination of work and communication between the two organisations, avoiding overlap and repetition of work.
Task Force Collaborators
The scientists below participate in the task force and expert groups:
Experts from supporting member companies
Dr. Ruud Albers, Unilever (NL)
Dr. Jean-Michel Antoine, Groupe Danone (FR)
Dr. Bart Degeest, Yakult Europe (BE)
Dr. Udo Herz, Mead Johnson Nutritionals (DE)
Dr. Jan Knol, Royal Numico (NL)
Dr. Riitta Korpela, Valio (FI)
Dr. Satoshi Kudo, Yakult Europe (NL)
Dr. Annick Mercenier, Nestlé (CH)
Mr. Arjan Nauta, Friesland Foods (NL)
Dr. Arthur Ouwehand, Danisco (FI)
Dr. Willem vas Dias, Seven Seas (UK)
Dr. Danielle Wolvers, Unilever (NL)
Experts from public institutes
Prof. Stig Bengmark, University College of London (UK)
Prof. Willem de Vos, Wageningen University (NL)
Prof. Dirk Haller, Technical University of Munich (DE)
Dr. Marko Kalliomakki, University of Turku (FI)
Dr. Irene Lenoir, FAO/ISO/IDF Joint Action Team Probiotics (FR) - Observer
Prof. Lorenzo Morelli, Catholic University of Piacenza (IT)
Dr. Sylvie Rabot, National Institute for Agricultural Research - INRA (FR)
Prof. Joseph Rafter, Karolinska Institute (SE)
Dr. Ger Rijkers, University Medical Center Utrecht (NL)
Dr. Jürgen Schrezenmeir, Federal Research Centre for Nutrition and Food (DE)
Mr. Joerg Seifert, International Dairy Federation -IDF (BE)
Ms. Sandra Tuijtelaars, International Dairy Federation -IDF (BE)
Dr. Bernhard Watzl, Federal Research Centre for Nutrition and Food (DE)
For more information, please contact info@ilsieurope.be.