by Lewis Chang, PhD Series Part 1: An Overview on Prebiotics This multi-part series will help you understand what prebiotics are, what they do, and how they may improve the health of your patients. Based on published scientific literature, this series will also clarify common misconceptions surrounding prebiotics and summarize clinical evidence of specific ingredients with prebiotic properties.  Introduction: I think I know what prebiotics are, but... Many health-conscious consumers have become familiar with the term “prebiotics.”  Yet, conflicting information…

Human Milk Oligosaccharides – Part 2 Presented by Lars Bode, PhD Lars Bode, PhD presents and overview of Human Milk Oligo Saccharides, what they are, their metabolism and how HMOs serve as prebiotics. HMOs are the third most abundant component in human milk and their composition follows a basic blueprint. There are more than 150 different HMOs identified. This video presentation includes a very informative Q&A session following the overview.

Lars Bode, PhD: Potential Effects of HMOs on Adult Gut Microbiome Lars Bode, PhD discusses the health benefits of Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs) and how research has shown ways HMOs can effect the adult microbiome. Positive effects are seen specifically in breastfed infants, where it has been identified to raise levels of two prime fucosyllactose (2′FL).

In this Clinical Minute, Nikky Contractor, PhD discusses oligosaccharides. 2’-fucosyllactose, also known as 2'-FL and pronounced “two F L,” is the most abundant human milk oligosaccharide (HMO) in human breast milk. Human milk contains many chemical structures that support the growth of beneficial bacteria in infants. The bacteria that are beneficial to infants are also beneficial in adults and support the growth of beneficial bacteria. 2'FL is also a “decoy receptor” that can bind with pathogenic bacteria and prevent binding…

Regular exercise at any intensity level—even just one hour per week—can help reduce depression, a large population study found.1 A group of researchers from University of New South Wales (Australia), King’s College London (England), and Norwegian Institute of Public Health (Norway) examined data from the Nord-Trøndelag Health (HUNT) Study—a large-scale, long-term, population-based health surveys in Norway—to understand whether exercise provided protection against depression and anxiety and whether intensity and amount of exercise mattered. After evaluating longitudinal data from nearly 34,000…

Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is a disorder characterized by an excessive concentration of bacteria in the small intestine (exceeding 105 organisms/mL). Patients with SIBO commonly report abdominal pain, flatulence, bloating, and diarrhea, and may experience malabsorption and weight loss in more severe cases.1 The standard regimen to manage SIBO has been antibiotic therapy, but this may disrupt the normal balance of the gut microbiota and can increases the risk of developing antibiotic resistance. Further, the antibiotics used are often bacteriostatic, not…

It is estimated that by 2050, 1 in 3 U.S. individuals will have type 2 diabetes(T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the most common cause of death for in these patients.  Prevention of CVD among individuals with T2D is therefore of great public health importance. The scientific statements from the American Diabetes Association (ADA), American Heart Association (AHA) and American College of Cardiology (ACC) regarding CVD prevention for patients with T2D, and risk factors for CVD, were recently synthesized and published in…

by Ashley Jordan Ferira, PhD, RDN The latest findings from the landmark Swedish Obese Subjects (SOS) trial demonstrate that bariatric surgery significantly reduces the incidence of female-specific cancers, with the most pronounced cancer risk reductions seen for endometrial cancer and in women with high insulin levels pre-surgery.1-2 The health and economic burdens of obesity in the US, and globally, are immense. Based on the latest 2015-2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey findings from the Centers for Disease Control and…

A retrospective cohort study found that infertility in women was associated with an increased risk of death from certain endocrine related disease such as diabetes and breast cancer [1]. As infertility in women may be a sign of endocrine or inflammatory disruption, scientists have had concerns about its long-term effects on women’s health. Researchers from the Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA) set out to study the link between infertility and mortality in women in the PLCO…