1. Bacteria of the intestinal flora
Bacteria of the intestinal flora are central to the health effects of probiotics A hundred years after the work of Elie Metchnikoff, researcher with the Paris Institut Pasteur and 1908 Nobel Laureate, the beneficial effects of fermented dairy products and probiotics have been broadly documented.
Probiotics act at 3 levels in the intestine: the intestinal cells, intestinal immune system, and intestinal flora. The flora is involved in the maturation of the intestinal immune system, bioconversion of dietary compounds, and protection against colonization by pathogenic microorganisms. The intestinal florathus constitutes an emerging research field and reputed research teams are investigating new aspects of the flora's roles in areas such as energy metabolism and weight management. The intestinal flora, aliving universe to which man is host (100,000 billion bacteria in a single adult), constitutes aninvaluable instrument in the research on and elucidation of the action mechanisms of probiotics.
2. The Convention
Danone was the instigator of the International Conventions on Probiotics inaugurated in 2002. Over the last 5 years, over 150 clinicians and scientists of international repute have contributed to the Convention, which constitutes a forum for independent scientific exchanges between those experts. In a pleasant and friendly atmosphere, gastroenterologists, pediatricians, immunologists, microbiologists, nutritionists and other experts from 40 countries exchange information in an environment of high scientific quality in which recognized specialists review the most recent discoveries in the field of probiotics (A probiotic is a live microorganism which, when administered in adequate amounts, confers a health benefit on the host (FAO/WHO, 2002)).
Reviews of the previous conventions have been published in international scientific journals.
3. The 5th convention is broadcasted via Internet
The 5th convention has been opened thanks 3 addresses devoted, via various approaches, to the hygiene theory' and delivered by the most highly reputed experts in the field. These opening addresses have been followed by 5 workshops on allergy and atopic diseases, infections, inflammatory diseases of the gut, digestive wellbeing and visceral sensitivity, and high-throughput analytical methods and their prospects for clinical application. By way of a conclusion to the Convention, in the form of 3 addresses, an even more exploratory vision of the already fascinating universe of the intestinal flora and probiotics have been given: exploration of the human microbiome: discovering the human intestinal flora; the microbiome and metabolism; the maintenance of intestinale barrier integrity by commensal bacteria and its disruption by pathogenic bacteria.
