African probiotic project reaching 10,000 infants a day

The potential of probiotics to benefit maternal and infant morbidity and mortality is being shown in on-the-ground projects in Africa and elsewhere, according to lifelong researcher, maternal and infant morbidity and mortality, professor Gregor Reid.

Professor Reid will tell the Probiota congress in Amsterdam next month of the latest research around neonatal sepsis and necrotising enterocolitis, and how probiotics are being employed to battle these debilitating conditions.

“The fact that the kitchens are continuing and the concept in Uganda is expanding shows that people are clearly benefitting,” professor Reid said. “Clearly it is having an effect.”

A partnership with Dutch NGO Yoba-for-Life was achieving real results with more than 10,000 people reached every day in countries like Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya via well-organised ‘community kitchens’.

Professor Reid, from the University of Western Ontario & Chair of Human Microbiology and Probiotics at the Lawson Health Research Institute in Canada, called for greater recognition for fermented foods and acknowledged the positive effect of authorised probiotic health claims in Canada on R&D and more.

Probiota 2015

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Pre- and probiotics will be discussed at Probiota 2015 in Amsterdam on February 3-5 – less than a month away.

From the next wave of prebiotics to the future of microbiome science beyond probiotics and prebiotics, to the nutrients’ effect on mood and anxiety, and strategies on pre- and probiotic market building, Probiota 2015 is a knowledge store you probably shouldn’t miss.

Click here for more.