The First International "Microbes for Health" Symposium casts light on the essential role for health of bacteria unobtrusively at work in the depths of our intestine
Paris, 26 November 2010 - More than 300 international researchers took part in the first International Symposium "Microbes for Health", organised jointly by the Institut Pasteur and Danone Research in Paris on 22 and 23 November. The major teachings of two days devoted to microbiota (comprising all the bacteria found in the human gut) were the extent, hitherto underestimated, of the genome of this microbiota, which comprises 1000 bacterial species and more than 3.3 million genes ... i.e. 150 more than are present in the human genome! This microbiota was also widely shown to play a role in certain metabolic diseases: imbalance of the flora as a result of diet and transfer of microbiota from sick mice to the sterile gut of healthy mice leading to onset of the initial symptoms. Conversely, the consumption of certain strains of bacteria appears to exert beneficial effects on the balance of the flora and to alleviate certain inflammatory diseases. Finally, the researchers outlined a number of potential explanations for the mechanisms potentially accounting for the health benefits of certain bacteria, thus providing further openings for the development of health foods which, by providing certain bacterial strains, promote the development of populations of beneficial bacteria within the microbiota.
The intestinal microbiota is currently the subject of very extensive research efforts, in particular since the launch in April 2008 of the European MetaHIT project (Metagenomics of the Human Intestinal Tract), which was created to characterise the genes and bacterial functions of the intestinal microbiota and to study the effects of the genome in terms of diet and health.
The first symposium was covered "live" by young researchers from INRA involved in the European MetaHIT and Cross-Talk projects. The content of the exchanges may be found at http://www.netvibes.com/metahit#MFH_2010. Like the Institut Pasteur/Danone Research symposium itself, this live coverage is the first of its type.
