Danone has decided to settle this dispute amicably by proposing
$ 35 million in compensation to the complainants and also decided to modify the packaging of its product to remove the word "immunity".
In the scientific journal Nature5 of September 2009, Didier Raoult indicates: "yoghurts and milk drinks with probiotics, for almost twenty years, have their share of responsibility in the obesity epidemic ..."
This health professional also states: “Probiotics are used as growth promoters in the 'agricultural sector'. Further studies should be done to confirm they are safe for use in humans
On April 15, 2010, Danone announced that it was withdrawing its request for validation of Activia and Actimel products from the European Food Safety Authority6.
On December 8, 2010, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) rejected Danone's arguments that supported a link between the consumption of Actimel and the reduction of the risk of diarrhea in elderly people in hospitals
Didier Raoult guarantees that the use of
probiotics as growth promoters in the farming industry means that further studies should be carried out before they are considered as safe for use in humans.
Probiotics and obesity: a link?Didier Raoult endorses that the use of probiotics as growth promoters in farming
industry means that further studies should be carried out before they are considered as safe
for use in humans.
... further
work using
experimental
models should
be carried out to
evaluate the role
of these products
as animal growth
promoters
before they are
recommended for
used in children.
Recent studies on the human gut microbiota have shown
That
obesity is associated with a reduction in Gram-negative
bacteria, specifically members of the Bacteroidetes, and an
increase in Gram-positive Firmicutes1. Additionally, it has
been shown that the
gut microbiota of obese individuals
is less diverse than that of non-obese individuals2. The
manipulation of the gut microbiota - through the administration
of probiotics and antibiotics - has been used for
growth promotion in farm animals for 50 years and is regulated
by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the
United States and by the European Commission in Europe.
The probiotics used for this purpose in the farming industry
includes
products containing Firmicutes, in particular
Lactobacillus spp., Bifidobacterium spp. and Enterococcus
spp. These products have been marketed and used in most of
the animal farming industry, including in the production
of poultry, calves and pigs, and many studies have shown
increases in the size and weight of the young animals that
are given these bacterial additives. Antibiotics also have
been used for this purpose, although this practice is now
banned in Europe.
Firmicutes are also used directly as therapeutic adjuvants
in humans, under the names probiotics, prebiotics
or, more generally, 'functional foods'. In the United States,
these products are categorized by the FDA as' generally
considered as safe '(GRAS; ironically, 'gras' translates as 'fat'
in French).
Analysis of these products showed that they
contain high concentrations of live Lactobacillus spp. and
Bifidobacterium spp. (up to 108 organisms per gram or milliliter).
These concentrations are
similar to those used in
animals as growth promoters. In the United States, probiotic-
containing products such as dairy drinks or yogurts
typically contain> 107 lactobacilli. Lactobacillus acidophilus
is found in functional foods in amounts that are equivalent
to those used
to cause weight gain in piglets. Lactobacillus
spp. also have
been associated with weight gain in children
treated for diarrhea3.
In addition, some studies have
demonstrated weight increases in children who received
Lactobacillus rhamnosus, independent of the disease for
which this probiotic was prescribed4.
When these data are considered in the context of the epidemic of childhood obesity that is occurring in many developed countries, it
seems essential to quickly and more completely study the
effects of probiotics in the pediatric population.
Functional foods, including fermented
dairy products
containing probiotics, are gaining popularity in
many countries, among children in particular, but little
research has been carried out on the connection
between these products and weight gain. These foods
products are often sold under
the guise of having positive
effects on children's health, but there are little conclusive
data to support these claims.
Surprisingly, the level of
regulation for the use of probiotics in humans is less strict than that for their use in animals. The specific bacterial species involved and the concentrations
at which they are present often are not made clear to
consumers, and to my knowledge the long-term effects
of probiotics as human food supplements or as adjunctive
therapy have never been rigorously evaluated. In
my opinion, further work using experimental models
should be carried out to evaluate the role of these
products as animal growth promoters before they are
recommended for use in children.
It is my view that there is a danger that we may be
causing a real human health problem by
promoting for
human consumption products containing bacteria that
have been associated with weight gain in the animal
food industry Any chemical compound with such a
side effect in experimental animals would be rigorously
tested before being allowed to be used in food. I
think that before probiotic and prebiotic products can
be regarded as safe, it is imperative that they are tested
in experimental models that evaluate
the propensity of
these products to cause obesity in humans.1. Ley, RE et al. Human gut microbes associated with obesity. Nature
444, 1022-1023 (2006).
2. Turnbaugh, PJ et al. A core gut microbiome in obese and lean twins.
Nature 457, 480–484 (2009).
3. Chouraqui, JP et al. Assessment of the safety, tolerance, and
protective effect against diarrhea of infant formulas containing
mixtures of probiotics or probiotics and prebiotics in a randomized
controlled trial. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 87, 1365–1373 (2008).
4. Guandalini, S. et al. Lactobacillus GG administered in oral rehydration
solution to children with acute diarrhea: a multicenter European trial.
J. Pediatr. Gastroenterol. Nutr. 30, 54–60 (2000).
Didier Raoult is at Research Unit in Infectious Diseases and
Emerging Tropicals, CNRS-IRD UMR 6236, Faculty of
Medicine, University of the Mediterranean, 27 Boulevard Jean
Windmill, 13385 Marseille, France.
Editorial
616 | SEpTEmBER 2009 | VOLUME 7
www.nature
