Probiotics: A Story About Hope: Trending Now Presentation
Written by: CDHF
Updated: February 1st, 2024
This presentation entitled “Probiotics: A Story About Hope” was done as part of CDHF’s 10th educational summit, “#TrendingNow: Putting the Biggest Gut Health Trends Under the Microscope.”
Learning Objectives
1. To understand what probiotics are and what they are not (the answers will surprise some of you)
2. To describe how the field came from nothing to the present day from my own story.
3. To encourage people not to give up when it seems like the world is rejecting your ideas.
4. To suggest that we need to try and pass on our innovations to people around the world, including those facing the greatest social challenges.
View the full presentation below!
Probiotics are not…
- Probiotics are not in us unless we have taken them.
- Not sauerkraut or kombucha- which are fermented foods.
- Not fecal transplant as strain characteristics cannot be defined.
- Not animal studies unless the probiotic is for these animals.
Prebiotics and Postbiotics
Prebiotics are defined as a substrate that is selectively utilized by host microorganisms conferring a health benefit (Gibson et al. 2017). Postbiotics are defined as a preparation of inaminate micoorganisms and/or their components that confers a health benefit on the host (Salminen et al. 2021). Effective postbiotics must contain inactivated microbial cells or cell components, with or without metabolites, that contribute to observed health benefits.
About the Speaker
Gregor Reid is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Western University.
Born and raised in Scotland, he did his PhD in New Zealand and immigrated to Canada in 1982. His research, most recently at Lawson Health Research Institute, has focused on the role of beneficial microbes in the health of humans and other life forms. He has produced 32 patents, 602 peer-reviewed publications cited over 58,000 times, has a Google Scholar H index of 122 and has given over 650 talks in 54 countries. Ranked #3 of Microbiology Scientists in Canada in 2022 by research.com. In 2001, he chaired the UN/WHO Expert Panel that defined the term probiotic. In 2004, he helped introduce probiotic yoghurt to East Africa as a means for women to create microenterprises that by 2019 reached 260,000 adults and children.
He has received an Honorary Doctorate from Orebro University, Sweden, a Distinguished Alumni award from Massey University, New Zealand, a Canadian Society for Microbiologists Career Award and Western University’s highest accolade of Distinguished Professor. He also won the Dr Rogers Prize for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in 2021.
