Fighting bacteria with bacteria
Release Date 11 January 2011
Two experts from the University of Reading will be speaking on the benefits of bacteria on human health at the Royal Society this week.
Professor Bob Rastall, head of the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, will explain how prebiotics, which feed friendly bacteria in the colon, actually work.
Professor Ian Rowland, from the Hugh Sinclair Unit of Human Nutrition at the University, will discuss how dietary probiotics, the addition of friendly bacteria to our gut, can decrease the duration of infections, such as the common cold, in those aged over 65. They can also enhance the effectiveness of the influenza vaccine in the older population.
Professor Rastall said: "Food products designed to have a positive impact on health, such as pre- and probiotics promise a significant impact on public health by reducing disease risk. Because we are living longer as a society, these products clearly have a role to play in promoting a long and healthy life."
The event, ‘Probiotics, prebiotics and biofuel-producing bacteria' at the Society for Applied Microbiology Annual Winter Meeting, is on Wednesday, 12 January.
ENDS
For more information please contact Rona Cheeseman, press officer, on 0118 378 7388 or email r.cheeseman@reading.ac.uk
Notes to editors
Food and Nutritional Sciences is the largest University department of its kind in the UK. It is renowned for its excellence in teaching and research. In the last Research Assessment Exercise (2008) 90% of its research output was considered 'internationally recognised'. Teaching Quality Audits have also given the department an 'Excellent' rating for its teaching. The overall aim of the department is to deliver international levels of research and teaching in the food biosciences using modern advanced technologies and inter-disciplinary expertise.