The Food, GI-tract Functionality and Human Health Cluster: PROEUHEALTH and Beyond

Abstract

Probiotics have become an important and rapidly expanding segment of the food market as processed food manufacturers seek to improve market share by promoting the health benefits provided by functional ingredients in their products. Scientific progress has been expanding the knowledge on how foods influence consumers in relation to specific health parameters. Probiotic foods targeted towards improving the balance and activity of the intestinal microbiota currently provide the largest segment of the functional food market in Europe, Japan and Australia. The human gastrointestinal (GI)-tract is the metabolically most active body organ and is the prime target of present and future functional foods. It is the primary site of food conversion and uptake but also the location where the mucosal immune system is primed and various local and systemic disorders become manifest. While sterile at birth, the GI-tract is colonized by a myriad of microbes / collectively called microbiota / that contribute towards food conversion, digestion, communication with the host and induction of specific biological responses contributing to many critical physiological functions. Hence, the GI-tract represents the site where the host’s well-being is mostly affected by food intake in both a direct way but also through modulating the interplay between gut microbes and the host. Various sequential steps are essential in the development of efficacious functional foods. A prerequisite for mechanistic studies of action is an understanding of the composition and activity of the intestinal microbiota as well as interactions with the host in both healthy and diseased individuals. High-throughput molecular methods are required to examine the intestinal microbiota and to track the location and activity of probiotic strains in the intestinal tract. An understanding of the mechanisms by which probiotics exert beneficial effects allows the selection of strains of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) that can be tested in human clinical studies following demonstration of their safety. An important area of research includes the technologies to maximize the stability of functional traits of probiotics during manufacture, formulation, storage and in the intestinal tract. Finally, an understanding of the most appropriate approaches to communicate the benefits of the probiotic foods to consumers and the influence of health messages on consumer choice is essential to ensure that products are appropriately applied and targeted to benefit specific populations. The Food, GI-tract Functionality and Human Health Cluster has brought together 64 research partners from 16 European countries in the quest to obtain greater knowledge of the role of the intestinal microbiota in human health and disease and to develop new functional foods and therapies. The reseach started in February 2001, it will run over 5 years ending in 2005 and is subsidized by the European Commission’s 5th Framework, Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources Programme. Eight complementary multicentre European projects are included in the cluster. They cover all aspects of the development of new probiotic foods, from designing molecular tools to study the ecology of the intestinal microbiota, to understanding mechanisms of bacterium / host interactions, providing solutions to food technology issues, and finally to conducting human clinical trials to assess efficacy in preventing or treating disease. The following research areas demonstrate the impact of the ongoing cluster: