Scientists from INRA and Danone Nutricia Research have shown the effect of a fermented milk product containing probiotics on the gut microbiota, using a novel high resolution bioinformatics tool. The product affected certain gut bacteria without changing the global composition of the microbial community. These findings, published in Scientific Reports on 11 September 2014, open new perspectives to understand the effects of probiotics on our health.
Fermented foods, and especially yoghurts, contain large amounts of live bacteria. We have been consuming them since the Neolithic Era (12,000 years ago), but our understanding of their impact on the digestive tract remains limited. Until recently, technological barriers prevented from studying in details the billions of bacteria living in our gut. The European consortium MetaHIT[1], coordinated by INRA, has made major breakthroughs in this field that expanded the scientific knowledge on the role of this microbiota and resulted in the discovery of many bacterial species hitherto unknown.
Building on these new technologies, teams from INRA and Danone Nutricia Research succeeded in analyzing for the first time with great accuracy the effects of consuming a fermented milk product containing probiotics such as Bifidobacterium lactis, on gut bacteria. "In this study, we studied the effect of the product on individuals afflicted with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), a pathology affecting 20% of the population in industrialized countries" says Dusko Ehrlich who led the research at INRA.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: INRA-France
