PART I: PATENTING PROBIOTICS IN THE U.S. by Ivan Wasserman, IPA Counsel Patents are an important part of the competitive landscape of the food and dietary supplement industries. In probiotics, market players large and small have staked out their claims to proprietary products. But you may also have heard that “products of nature” might not […]
IPA Regulatory Workshop in DC: October 25, 2018
IPA’s popular one-day regulatory and scientific workshop is set to return to Washington DC for a third consecutive year. Probiotics are unique. Whether considering manufacture, storage, stability or analysis, probiotics are different than other food and dietary supplement categories. As such, industry standards and guidelines for probiotics should not be written under their umbrella. Careful […]
In Fecal Transplants, Not All Poop is Created Equal
There’s nothing like a poop story to get the juvenile juices flowing. Crowding a Twitter and RSS feed recently were numerous alerts to a diaper pail full of baby poop headlines: Kardashian-like catnip for the health-minded. A PubMed search (not all blogs had links) led to an interesting piece of research from Wake Forest School […]
Aging Microbiomes: A New Wrinkle for the Elderly
Expect to live at least a few decades longer than your ancestors born a century ago. That’s the good news. Unfortunately, not all of those bonus years promise the joys of good health. Aging bodies and minds are much more susceptible to disease. Aging changes are inevitable and built into the DNA of every cell. The […]
Microbes Need Care in the ICU
While often life-saving, hospitals can be dangerous to your health. Exposed to infections, lack of sleep and poor nutrition, patients may spiral down into the intensive care unit (ICU) where two critical illnesses are common: sepsis and acute respiratory failure. A role for microbes Microbes are emerging as key players in the genesis, advance and […]
Age of Anxiety Calls for Probiotic Research
With soaring numbers of people taking anxiety-reducing drugs, it is good to remember that anxiety is a highly-valuable defense mechanism evolved over many thousands of years of evolution. Anxiety triggers cortisol release in essential fight-or-flight responses. Ergo, a calm demeanor in the face of real threats may cost life or limb. These days, the mounting stress […]