Experts revisit importance of mother’s milk in child’s growth and development

Mysuru: A two-day National workshop on “Bifidobacterial Probiotics: Supplementation Through Fermented Food” was held at CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysuru, on Mar. 24 and 25.

This workshop was sponsored by the Probiotic Association of India (PAi).

Dr. Sridevi Annapurna Singh, Director, CSIR-CFTRI, inaugurated the workshop in the presence of chief guest Dr. Shrilakshmi Desiraju, Probiotic IP Advisor, TENSHI Life Sciences, Bengaluru and Dr. Prakash M. Halami, Organising Secretary and Head of MFT Department, CSIR-CFTRI.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Sridevi Annapurna Singh emphasised the role of Bifidobacteria in the development of the new-born child and maintaining gut microbial homoeostasis in  the entire life of the individual and it’s potential to immunise humans from common cold to cancer.

Dr. Prakash Halami, in his welcome speech, explained health-promoting properties of bifidobacterial supplementation in  prevention of colon cancer. In his lecture, he further explained that Bifidobacteria colonise in large colon and lead to an array of health benefits, including intestinal health maintenance, gut microbial homoeostasis, organic acid production, immune system maturation, digestion of food not digested in small intestine, suppression of pathogens and detoxification of antinutritional factors, etc.

He also mentioned that in the Indian market, none of the probiotics products are meant for colon health, since most of probiotics are lactobacilli based that colonise only in small intestines.

Keeping this in mind, CSIR-CFTRI has already developed two different probiotic products, “BIFIDOCURD and Bifidobacteria enriched soya curd” which are ready for Technology Transfer.

In her address, Dr. Shrilakshmi Desiraju highlighted  increase in  demand for probiotics post-pandemic  though  Probiotics have been a part of our life for 8,000 years.

Emphasising the bifidobacteria and infant nutrition, she mentioned  that Bifidobacteria as the 1st bacteria entering the gut of an infant born by normal delivery.

Other resource persons included Prof. Yogesh S. Shouche, Visiting Professor, Azim Premji University; Bengaluru, who spoke about the genomic diversity of bifidobacteria and their adaptation to different environment.

 Dr. Jayesh J. Ahire, Scientist, Unique Biotech, Hyderabad shared his opinion about bifidobacterial probiotics from laboratory to the industry.

The workshop had six practical sessions on the techniques associated with bifidobacterial probiotic supplementation. During workshop hands-on training was provided to the participants with  interpretation of results.

Panel discussion was organised to interact with experts in the field of gut microbiota, prebiotics, polyphenols and mass production of probiotics. Nearly 80 participants from  different States of the country  registered for the workshop and  26 participated in  offline mode. A poster presentation session was also organised  for online as well as offline participants.

Participation certificates and prizes were distributed to the poster presenters during the valedictory function chaired by Dr. R.P. Singh, Chief Scientist and Head, Department of Biochemistry, CSIR-CFTRI Mysuru, according to a press release.