Danone: the Gut Microbiome and Probiotics – 100 Years of Shared History

SPONSOR FEATURE Danone: The gut microbiome and probiotics – 100 years of shared history AUTHOR Patrick Veiga, Silvia Miret and Liliana Jiménez Danone Nutricia Research, R.D. 128, 91767, Palaiseau, France anone was founded 100 years ago on a Dbreakthrough concept of the time: that fermented foods and the bacteria they contained (not yet referred to as probiotics) could target the gut and its microbiome to bring health to all. One century later, Danone continues to place the gut and its microbiome at the core of its health strategy to deliver the company’s mission “bringing health through food to as many people as possible”. Today, the portfolio of the Danone Essential Dairy & Plant-Based division encompasses the traditional range of fermented dairy Figure 1. Danone yogurt was packaged and sold in ceramic pots in the early twentieth century. Source: Danone. products and probiotics. The portfolio was recently broadened are two examples of headlines that the lactate produced Building on Louis Pasteur’s to include plant-based products, that were written over the past during fermentation inhibited legacy, in 1899 Henri Tessier, expanding the possibility to couple of years, but they could the growth of pathogens and a paediatrician from the develop dairy and non-dairy have been written one hundred avoided food spoilage3. The Institut Pasteur, discovered ranges of healthy products years ago. By the end of the idea that not all bacteria were Bifidobacterium bifidum in that will contribute to nourish, nineteenth century, the field of prejudicial was a breakthrough faecal samples of breast-fed enrich and protect the gut and microbiology started to fulfil at the time. The scientific world infants and reported that the its microbiome. Here we present its first promises. Louis Pasteur was shaken by the promise of bacteria could be used to help the history of microbiology and discovered fermentation by modern microbiology, which prevent babies from developing Danone and reveal our research lactic acid bacteria, which he saw the rise of vaccines, the diarrhoea. The Russian-born priorities for the coming years. described as beneficial bacteria isolation of beneficial bacteria biologist Élie Metchnikoff, to protect foods from spoilage. and, later in the century, with the recipient of the Nobel prize in DANONE WAS BORN Despite the traditional use discovery in 1928 of penicillin physiology or medicine in 1908 DURING THE MICROBIOLOGY of fermentation in foods and by Alexander Fleming, the for his work on phagocytosis, REVOLUTION beverages to improve storage development of antibiotics. hypothesized that “there is a link “The secret to longevity may lie time, safety, functionality, Microbiology was seen by many between the gut ﬂora and the in the microbiome and the gut”1. organoleptic quality and as uncharted scientific territory senile degeneration”4. The gut “Why the gut microbiome is nutritional properties, it was holding promises to improve microbiome and its metabolites crucial for your health”2. These Pasteur who demonstrated people’s lives. were linked to intestinal processes Sponsor retains sole responsibility for content SPONSOR FEATURE beyond food digestion and the hand-delivered as a health food were Escherichia coli Nissle gastrointestinal discomfort in absorption of nutrients. At the to pharmacies across the city. (1917), Lactobacillus acidophilus healthy adults10,11 and a decrease time, it was a breakthrough In 1924, the production site was LB (1907) and Lactobacillus casei in the severity of symptoms in concept: the bacteria in our visited by the College of Doctors Shirota (1935). In 1974, Richard people with IBS-C12 . guts could dictate our fate. of Barcelona who complimented B. Parker proposed a definition Metchnikoff also observed the product5 . of probiotics as “organisms and THE SECOND that food could be used to From pharmacies, yogurt substances which contribute to MICROBIOLOGY beneficially modulate the gut made it through to other intestinal microbial balance”9. REVOLUTION FED DANONE’S ﬂora, in particular the bacteria channels accessible to a range An official definition was GUT HEALTH RESEARCH contained in fermented foods4. of consumers and became issued in 2001 by the Food Scientific discoveries often His hypothesis was that if the a mainstream product. One and Agricultural Organization rely on the development of lactate produced by bacteria decade later, Daniel joined the of the United Nations and the new technologies. The birth during fermentation can inhibit family business and successfully World Health Organization as of modern microbiology at the growth of harmful bacteria, expanded Danone across France. constituting “live microorganisms the end of the nineteenth and then the same process could In the late 1930s, with Europe that, when administered in beginning of the twentieth occur in the gut. Consequently, once again on the brink of war, adequate amounts, confer a century makes no exception. lactic acid bacteria could inhibit he decided to move to the United health benefit on the host”. The first microbiology revolution the ‘putrefaction’ and production States. In the years following Different types of bacteria was possible because of the of toxins in the gut. He worked the first world war and, later, (for example Lactobacillus, development of new technological to isolate pure cultures from a the second world war, yogurt Bifidobacterium, Streptococcus, tools, such as the microscope. sample of Bulgarian fermented was consumed as a way of Bacillus) and yeast or mould The advancements in genomics, milk, among them Lactobacillus providing healthy nutrients. The (for example Saccharomyces, proteomics and epigenomics bulgaricus and Streptococcus fermentation process means that Aspergillus, Candida) are qualified have propelled the field into a thermophilus, the two species yogurt contains higher quantities as probiotics. second revolution that will allow used today to produce yogurt. of vitamins B2, B6 and B12, and The first foodstuff to contain researchers to understand the The history of Danone begins the nutrients calcium, potassium, probiotics was probably precise mechanisms of action in 1916, when Greek businessman zinc and magnesium than other fermented milk, but today many of the bacteria in the gut. The Isaac Carasso took his wife dairy products such as milk6. other matrices can contain metagenomics sequencing tools and three children to Spain, his Yogurt promotes adherence probiotics. Danone started the available today represent similar ancestral home. Much of Europe to dietary guidelines for many production of two probiotic- technological advancements was experiencing the turmoil of nutrients, particularly those of containing fermented milks with because they allow scientists to the first world war and although concern, such as calcium. During Bifidobacterium lactis CNCM rapidly capture the complexity of Spain remained neutral, famine, fermentation, the breakdown of I-2494 (BFMP) and L. casei microbiomes and study invisible malnutrition and poor living lactose by enzymes present in CNCM I-1518 (LFMP) in 1987 microorganisms without the need standards were present in many L. bulgaricus and S. thermophilus and 1994, respectively named to isolate them. layers of society. Carasso was reduces lactose levels and Activia® and Actimel®. With the At the forefront of this deeply affected by the levels of facilitates the consumption of ambition to build and substantiate second revolution were the malnutrition and disease that he dairy products by individuals the health benefits of probiotics, European and United States saw in Spanish children. who might be sensitive to a vast programme of studies was consortia of laboratories, Carasso was open and curious lactose levels found in milk7. launched in the 1990s, resulting MetaHIT (Metagenomics of about scientific developments Recent population studies have in more than 40 peer-reviewed the Human intestinal Tract, a and he was inspired by suggested that yogurt might not scientific publications. The project financed by the European Metchnikoff’s research into only be a significant contributor studied benefits of probiotic Commission, 2008–2012) and dairy ferments. Through in the provision of micronutrients products range from reducing the Human Microbiome Project experimentation and by trial but is also associated with a incidence or duration of digestive (2007–2013), respectively, and error, Carasso mixed fresh reduced risk of weight gain and discomfort symptoms, intestinal which have led the way and milk with ferments isolated at increased satiety and that yogurt transit, common infection and developed bioinformatics tools the Institut Pasteur to create in consumption might be linked to illness, respiratory infection, and concepts that have unlocked 1919, exactly 100 years ago, what an overall healthier dietary and gastrointestinal infection and microbiome research. Inspired by became the first Danone yogurt. lifestyle pattern8. prevention of diarrhoea following its microbiology heritage, Danone He named the yogurt after his Building on Pasteur ’s heritage, the use of antibiotics. Specifically, Nutricia Research contributed to son, Daniel, and in reference to scientists in the twentieth the results accumulated for this frantic endeavour by joining his nickname ‘Little Daniel’. The century isolated other health- BFMP showed a consistent the MetaHIT consortium, which yogurt was packaged in porcelain promoting strains from the and significant improvement was seen by many as

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