Abstract
The role of the gut microbiome in human health and disease with a particular emphasis on therapeutic use of probiotics under specific medical conditions was mainly highlighted in 1st Annual conference of Probiotic Association of India (PAi) and International Symposium on “Probiotics for Human Health - New Innovations and Emerging Trends” held on 27th-28th August, 2012 at New Delhi, India. There is increasing recognition of the fact that dysbiosis or alteration of this gut microbiome may be implicated in gastro-intestinal disorders including diarrheal diseases, ulcerative colitis, inflammatory bowel diseases, life style diseases viz. Diabetes Mellitus-2 and obesity etc. This report summarizes the proceedings of the conference and the symposium comprehensively. Although, research on probiotics has been continuing for the past few decades, the subject has been currently the major focus of attention across the world due to recent advances and new developments in genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and emergence of new generation of high through put sequencing technologies that have immensely helped in understanding the probiotic functionality and mode of action from nutritional and health perspectives. There is now sufficient evidence backed up with good quality scientific clinical data to suggest that probiotic interventions could indeed be effective in various types of diarrheal diseases, other chronic gastrointestinal inflammatory disorders like pouchitis, necrotizing entero-colitis, allergic responses and lactose intolerance etc. This report makes a modest attempt to give all the stake holders involved in development of probiotic based functional/health foods an overview of the current status of probiotics research at the Global and National level. The most crucial issues that emerged from the lead talks delivered by the eminent speakers from India and abroad were the major focus of discussions in different plenary and technical sessions. By discussing some of these issues from scientific perspectives, the conference could achieve its prime objective of disseminating the current knowledge on the prospects of probiotics as potential biotherapeutics in the management of human health and diseases.
Highlights
Probiotics constitute the new buzz word in human dietary portfolio and are currently the major focus of attention across the world including India and other developing counties due to their enormous health potentials
Realizing the enormous prospects and significance of probiotics in human health in the backdrop of the aforesaid issues from global perspective and the tremendous feedback received from the industry, the concept of Probiotic Association of India (PAi) was mooted and subsequently the same was got registered as a society with effect from Dec. 8, 2010
Backed up with more than 200 registered members represented by faculty and students from academic organizations and industry as corporate members, PAi initiated the process of organizing its first annual conference from a broader perspective to give a global touch to this scientific event by clubbing it with an International symposium with the theme title “Probiotics for Human Health- New Innovations and Emerging Trends”
Summary
Probiotics constitute the new buzz word in human dietary portfolio and are currently the major focus of attention across the world including India and other developing counties due to their enormous health potentials. By virtue of expressing a wide spectrum of novel physiological functions beneficial to human health, probiotics are currently being recognized as the grey area of intensive investigations at the global level to derive their beneficial health effects maximally for the welfare of society from nutritional and health perspectives He cautioned that before seeking any specific health claim for any medical condition attributed to a particular probiotic strain or the food formulation developed with the same, it must be validated through well designed double blind placebo controlled clinical studies at least at two differently located centers. Dr Ashish Bavdekar, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics KEM Hospital, Pune, in his presentation, deliberated at length on the outcome of different clinical meta-analysis studies to demonstrate the efficacy of probiotics against different medical conditions in children He began his talk by stating that currently probiotics are being administered for various indications like general health improvement, immune enhancement and the prevention and treatment of specific gut related diseases. It was felt by all the concerned participating in the conference that PAi should establish immediate contact with FSSAI and expedite the formalities and implementation of regulatory standards on probiotics in the country in harmony with the International standards
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