What is Listeria ? Why Sabra Recall Hummus?

Listeria Be Aware To Avoid It

Listeria is a genus of bacteria that contains 10 species each containing two subspecies. Named after the English pioneer of sterile surgery Joseph Lister, the genus received its current name in 1940. Listeria species are facultatively anaerobic, non-spore formingbacilli. The major human pathogen in the Listeria genus is L. monocytogenes. It is usually the causative agent of the relatively rare bacterial disease, listeriosis, a serious infection caused by eating food contaminated with the bacteria. The disease affects primarily pregnant women, newborns, adults with weakened immune systems, and the elderly.

Listeriosis is a serious disease for humans; the overt form of the disease has a case-fatality rate of about 20 percent. The two main clinical manifestations are sepsis and meningitis. Meningitis is often complicated by encephalitis, a pathology that is unusual for bacterial infections. Listeria ivanovii is a pathogen of mammals, specifically ruminants, and has rarely caused listeriosis in humans.

 What is Listeriosis?

Listeriosis, a serious infection usually caused by eating food contaminated with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes

, is an important public health problem in the United States . The disease primarily affects older adults, pregnant women, newborns, and adults with weakened immune systems. However, rarely, people without these risk factors can also be affected. The risk may be reduced by following a few simple recommendations.

What are the Symptoms of Listeriosis?

A person with listeriosis usually has fever and muscle aches, sometimes preceded by diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms. Almost everyone who is diagnosed with listeriosis has "invasive" infection, in which the bacteria spread beyond the gastrointestinal tract. The symptoms vary with the infected person:

•    Pregnant women: Pregnant women typically experience fever and other non-specific symptoms, such as fatigue and aches. However, infections during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery, or life-threatening infection of the newborn.
• People other than pregnant women: Symptoms can include headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions in addition to fever and muscle aches.
• 
  

Listeriosis can present in different ways. In older adults and people with immunecompromising conditions, septicemia and meningitis are the most common clinical presentations 2. Pregnant women may experience a fever and other non-specific symptoms, such as fatigue and aches, followed by fetal loss or bacteremia and meningitis in their newborns . Immunocompetent people may experience acute febrile gastroenteritis or no symptoms 

Key point 1: Invasive listeriosis is rare but deadly.

·         An estimated 1,600 cases of invasive listeriosis and 260 related deaths occur annually in the United States.

·         An estimated 18% of patients with listeriosis die.

·         Overall, Listeria monocytogenes ranks third as a cause of death due to major known foodborne pathogens in the United States.

Key point 2: Certain well-defined groups are at higher risk for invasive listeriosis.

Higher-risk groups include persons who have compromised cell-mediated immunity:

·         Older adults. In the 2011 outbreak, the median age of patients was 77 years. In fact, the incidence of listeriosis increases steadily with age after about age 50.

·         Patients undergoing transplants or receiving immunosuppressive medications.

·         Persons with other immunocompromising conditions. Well-established conditions that confer risk are AIDS and certain malignancies, especially hematologic. Some studies have found an increased risk with:

o    Liver disease;

o    Kidney disease;

o    Insulin-dependent diabetes; and

o    Alcoholism.

·         Pregnant women. In pregnant women, listeriosis may present as a non-specific, "flu-like illness" or be asymptomatic. The woman does not become seriously ill. However, listeriosis can cause:

o    Fetal loss;

o    Premature labor; and

o    Neonatal sepsis, meningitis, and death.

Key point 3: For higher-risk groups, food preparation, storage habits and food preferences should be considered modifiable risk factors.

·         Unlike most bacterial causes of foodborne illness, Listeria monocytogenes can continue to grow at refrigeration temperatures. This means that storage times are an important consideration for prevention of listeriosis, particularly for foods that are known to favor growth ofListeria. According to a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)/United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) risk assessment, some of the most highrisk foods include soft cheeses, unpasteurized dairy products (including raw milk); deli and lunch meats, cold cuts, hot dogs, pâté, and meat spreads.

·         Only 5% of the cases were pregnancy-associated during the 2011 outbreak. By comparison, almost two-thirds of cases were pregnancy-associated during the next largest listeriosis outbreak, which occurred in 1985 and was associated with Mexican-style cheese. Most of the women with pregnancy-associated listeriosis were Hispanic. Differences in the frequency of pregnancy-associated listeriosis during outbreaks indicate that cultural food preferences can affect risk.

Prevention

Preventing listeriosis as a food illness requires effective sanitation of food contact surfaces. Alcohol is an effective topical sanitizer against Listeria. Quaternary ammonium can be used in conjunction with alcohol as a food contact safe sanitizer with increased duration of the sanitizing action. Refrigerated foods in the home should be kept below 4 °C (39.2 °F) to discourage bacterial growth. Preventing listeriosis also can be done by carrying out an effective sanitation of food contact surfaces

Listeria in hummus prompts national recall by Sabra

The presence of potential listeria in several samples of hummus has prompted a national recall by Virginia-based Sabra Dipping Co. of 30,000 cases of Classic Hummus.

Inspectors with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development learned of the possible contamination by Listeria monocytogenes after routine inspections March 30 at a Kroger in Port Huron, according to Jennifer Holton, MDARD spokeswoman.

Samples from the prepackaged product were collected for testing, and the results came back days later. Michigan officials alerted inspectors in Virginia and officials with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration who, in turn, are working with Sabra.

The recall is limited to five stock unit, or SKU, numbers of Classic Hummus. No other Sabra product is affected at this time.

U.S. Consumers should discard packages with the following codes, which are located on the top of each package. They can also return them for a refund, Holton said.

Consumers with any questions can call Sabra at 888-957-2272 weekdays.

These are the codes:

040822011143/300067 – Sabra Classic, 10 oz. – 3-059/Best before May 11;

040822011143/300067 – Sabra Classic 10 oz. - 3-060/Best before May 15

040822014687/300074 – Sabra Classic, 30 oz. – 3-059/Best before May 11

040822342049/301216 – Sabra Classic Without Garnish, 32 oz. – 3-059/Best before May 11

040822017497/301290 – Sabra Classic, 17 oz. Six Pack – 3-058/Best before May 11

040822017497/301290 – Sabra Classic, 17 oz. Six Pack – 3-059/Best before May 11

040822342209/301283 – Hummus Dual Pack Classic/Garlic – 3-058/Best before May 11

Contact Robin Erb: rerb@freepress.com or 313-222-2708. Follow her on Twitter@Freephealth.

What is Listeria ? Why Sabra Recall Hummus?

2:54 PM bacteris, featured, food, health, Listeria, listeriosis, risk, Sabra, Sabra recall hummus

Food preservatives linked to obesity and gut disease

Mouse study suggests that emulsifiers alter gut bacteria, leading to the inflammatory bowel condition colitis

Chemicals known as emulsifiers are often added to processed foods such as ice cream. 

Artificial preservatives used in many processed foods could increase the risk of inflammatory bowel diseases and metabolic disorders, according to research published on 25 February in Nature. In a study done in mice, chemicals known as emulsifiers were found to alter the make-up of bacteria in the colon — the first time that these additives have been shown to affect health directly.

About 15 different emulsifiers are commonly used in processed Western foods for purposes such as smoothing the texture of ice cream and preventing mayonnaise from separating. Regulatory agencies such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rule that emulsifiers are “generally regarded as safe”, because there is no evidence that they increase the risk of cancer or have toxic effects in mammals.

But when immunologist Andrew Gewirtz at Georgia State University in Atlanta and his colleagues fed common emulsifiers carboxymethylcellulose and polysorbate-80 to mice, they found evidence that the chemicals affected the animals' health. Although their diet was not otherwise changed, healthy mice whose water contained the chemicals became obese and developed metabolic problems such as glucose intolerance. In mice genetically engineered to be prone to inflammatory gut diseases, emulsifiers also seemed to increase the severity and frequency with which the animals developed inflammatory bowel disease.

The most severe health effects were seen in mice that consumed the chemicals at a level similar to a person whose diet consists of only ice cream, says Gewirtz. But the researchers saw effects even at one-tenth of the concentration of emulsifiers that the FDA allows in a food product.

Colonic colonies

To understand why emulsifiers affected the health of mice, researchers analysed bacteria from the animals' colons. They found less diversity in the microbial species than in healthy mice, and found evidence that the microbes had migrated closer the cells lining the gut. Gewirtz and his colleagues suspect that the emulsifiers can break down the heavy mucus that lines the mammalian gut and prevents bacteria from coming into contact with gut cells. If this happens, the bacteria cause inflammation in the gut, which can also lead to changes in metabolism.

Gewirtz says that previous studies may have missed these links because newly developed food additives are tested in large swathes of the population, masking any subtle effects in people whose genetics or gut-microbe composition predispose them to these diseases. For regulators, he says, “the idea that a subset of the population may be sensitive isn’t on the radar.”

This lack of specificity could explain why nutritionists and public-health agencies are constantly revising their dietary guidelines — just this month, for example, an advisory council to the US government recommended eliminating guidelines on cholesterol consumption. “If you look over a 50-year perspective, you would see that the recommendations go back and forth, back and forth,” says immunologist Eran Elinav of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. “No one is lying or cheating, many of these studies are well-designed studies, but they all look at large populations.”

Last year, Elinav and computational biologist Eran Segal, a colleague at the Weizmann Institute, found that artificial sweeteners such as saccharin can cause metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes by changing the make-up of bacteria in the gut in both mice and humans. They are now compiling a database of genetic and microbiome data from about 1,000 volunteers, measuring their metabolic response to different test foods. They hope that this will eventually allow nutritionists to make specific dietary recommendations for individuals based on these parameters.

Additive problems

Elinav and Segal hope to incorporate consumption of emulsifiers, sweeteners and other artificial additives into their study, but caution that there are many components to inflammatory and metabolic diseases. “This is for sure not the only driving factor” for inflammatory bowel disease, Elinav says.

Gewirtz says that many more human and animal studies need to be completed before regulatory agencies would consider changing how additives are approved — after all, removing preservatives from foods would cause them to rot sooner, posing a different health risk. He hopes to do a study in humans soon and is already collecting biopsies from surgery patients to study where different bacteria live in the colon.

But the findings have been enough to convince Gewirtz and co-author Benoit Chassaing, a microbiologist at Georgia State, to start checking the labels of the foods they buy, although both say they are not trying to eliminate emulsifiers entirely. It is not easy to find emulsifier-free food, Gewirtz says, and products marketed as 'organic' are just as likely to contain these agents. “When it comes to people making their own decisions, between our studies and others out there, it’s better to eat less processed food,” he says.

Food preservatives linked to obesity and gut disease

8:53 AM colon, diseases, emulsifiers, FDA, featured, food, food preservatives, obesity

Quick DNA Scans Could Ensure Food Is Safe to Eat

Tools to analyze DNA in meals, including fish, may soon help eliminate fraudulent claims as to what type of food is being sold or served.
Credit: Michael Saechang

An apple can kill, a sprinkle of sprouts can send you to the hospital and your succulent, pan-seared red snapper may actually be tilefish. Despite rising concerns about food safety and authenticity, contamination rates by salmonella, campylobacter,Escherichia coli and other common pathogens have not fallen or are actually on the increase, depending on the microbe, according to a 2013 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Each year foodborne illnesses caused by these microorganisms sicken 48 million Americans, hospitalize 128,000 and kill 3,000, according to the agency.

Food fraud is also increasing. In 2014 Oceana, an international conservation organization, published a two-year study of 1,215 seafood samples and 46 fish types from 674 retailers in 21 states. They found that a third of samples were mislabeled.

Tools to analyze DNA in food items may soon help eliminate these problems. Techniques ranging from whole genome sequencing to the ability to create artificial DNA labels that indicate points of origin are surprisingly affordable now, and have led to novel global collaborations and inventions. Scientists worldwide are working to create databases of foodborne microbial strains, sequence the most common pathogens and tag foods for immediate traceability. The new initiatives promise to speed investigations and reduce foodborne illnesses and deaths; the techniques could also spot food fakery by marketers.

Genome Trakr, a five-year collaboration between the University of California, Davis; Agilent Technologies; and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, promises to perform whole genome sequencing on a total of 100,000 types of common foodborne pathogens. The technology maps the entire DNA sequence of a microbe, and allows scientists to distinguish one strain from another, allowing fast track-back and earlier elimination of outbreaks around the world. The project began in March 2012 and the database, hosted by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, will be available online and at no cost to researchers and public health officials. The zoom-in detail of a sequenced genome will make it possible to distinguish different strains of a microbe that are otherwise indistinguishable, and trace back a small cluster outbreak before it becomes widespread.

Right now that kind of trace-back is difficult without detailed epidemiologic exposure data. A recent study from Cornell University suggests the new technology is an effective and faster replacement. Using whole genome sequencing, researchers were able to double the number of cases associated with a known 2010 outbreak of a strain of salmonella called salmonella Heidelberg at a long-term care facility in New York City. They even found cases outside the metro region.

Whole genome sequencing has already proved successful in halting serious food outbreaks. In 2012 researchers isolated the specific strain in a salmonella outbreak in tuna sushi that sickened 258 individuals, and tracked it back to a processing plant in India. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigated the plant and found 10 sanitation slipups, including four outright violations of safety protocols. In 2014 the FDA was able to halt a U.S.Listeria outbreak that had killed one and sickened seven others. They genotyped and linked the strain to soft Hispanic-style cheeses manufactured by a company called Roos Foods, which ceased all manufacturing after being shut down by the FDA

The gigantic open-access Genome Trakr database should speed up this kind of detective work by providing an enormous volume of data that has already been analyzed. The project’s director, U.C. Davis microbiologist Bart Weimer, says that “We’ve just extended the project to China, and they will map another 10,000 genomes and deposit them. We have other global collaborations pending.”

Sequencing a whole genome is only one of the new approaches to food safety, however. Food fraud prevention is also benefitting from a large international project called The International Barcode of Life (iBOL), which is building a genetic library of all life on Earth. Initiated in 2003 by geneticist Paul Hebert at the University of Guelph in Ontario, it offers a global online database of DNA labels, akin to the bar codes on food packaging, for different species. These DNA bar codes are sequences from a small and stable region of the genome, which can reliably be used to identify a species.

The project has already created over 2.6 million bar-code records for almost 200,000 species of plants and animals, and Hebert hopes to reach 500,000 by the end of 2015. The BOL can distinguish farmed from wild salmon because they are two different species. A 2015 report from the CDC used bar coding to identify imported poisonous puffer fish that were being sold in the U.S. as nonpoisonous varieties. “DNA testing is often the only way to correctly identify food and medicinal products,” says Mark Stoeckle, a researcher at The Rockefeller University who used DNA bar codes to finger fake fish sold in New York City in a 2009 experiment that became known as “sushigate.”

Finally, inspired by the bar-coding idea, one new company, DNATrek, is creating synthetic bar codes for food items. The technology consists of DNA sequences extracted from plants; it is an odorless, colorless and tasteless material which can be mixed with already-in-use food coatings (such as natural waxes and oils) and sprayed on foods. The DNA sequences act like invisible bar codes and can be applied at each point of risk in the food chain: the farm, the sorting facility, the distributor, the packer and even the retailer. These bar codes can be read by polymerase chain reaction testing, a process that generates millions of copies of a small piece of DNA, so that it can be easily identified. “When an outbreak occurs,” says company founder Anthony Zografos, “polymerase chain reaction technology can read the DNA code in about 20 minutes in the laboratory, allowing immediate trace-back rather than weeks or months.”

The codes can also help verify the authenticity of a product like Italian olive oil: The tags should trace back to an olive farm and to packing facilities in Italy. DNATrek’s technology has been approved by the FDA, and this year will be tested in the U.S. supply chain. A similar DNA bar code has been designed by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. There, researcher Robert Grass and colleagues created DNA labels encapsulated in small, food-safe silica particles that are already used as additives in certain foodstuffs. They then added the particles to milk. Later polymerase chain reaction testing was able to detect the labels in cheese and yogurt made from the milk. Regulatory hoops still need to be overcome, before widespread adoption of the second method, however.

DNA Trek’s Zografos thinks that smartphones may one day have apps that can actually detect bacterial contamination or synthetic bar codes. “My colleagues and I were thinking how wonderful that invention could be, but how many years away it was. And then we saw that a professor at U.C.L.A. had developed a smartphone app that could read a single virus or bacteria.” That researcher, bioengineer Aydogan Ozcan, recently published a study with his colleagues showing that a cellphone-based imaging system could detect viruses and nanoparticles. The phone is essentially converted into an advanced fluorescent microscope. The mobile microscopy unit uses the phone's camera to visualize and measure the length of single-molecule DNA strands.

So the day may not be far off when we can hold our phones over a fish fillet to make sure we know what we are eating.

Quick DNA Scans Could Ensure Food Is Safe to Eat

9:02 AM analyse food, dna scan, fish analysis, food, safe food

Quick DNA Scans Could Ensure Food Is Safe to Eat

Tools to analyze DNA in meals, including fish, may soon help eliminate fraudulent claims as to what type of food is being sold or served.
Credit: Michael Saechang

An apple can kill, a sprinkle of sprouts can send you to the hospital and your succulent, pan-seared red snapper may actually be tilefish. Despite rising concerns about food safety and authenticity, contamination rates by salmonella, campylobacter,Escherichia coli and other common pathogens have not fallen or are actually on the increase, depending on the microbe, according to a 2013 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Each year foodborne illnesses caused by these microorganisms sicken 48 million Americans, hospitalize 128,000 and kill 3,000, according to the agency.

Food fraud is also increasing. In 2014 Oceana, an international conservation organization, published a two-year study of 1,215 seafood samples and 46 fish types from 674 retailers in 21 states. They found that a third of samples were mislabeled.

Tools to analyze DNA in food items may soon help eliminate these problems. Techniques ranging from whole genome sequencing to the ability to create artificial DNA labels that indicate points of origin are surprisingly affordable now, and have led to novel global collaborations and inventions. Scientists worldwide are working to create databases of foodborne microbial strains, sequence the most common pathogens and tag foods for immediate traceability. The new initiatives promise to speed investigations and reduce foodborne illnesses and deaths; the techniques could also spot food fakery by marketers.

Genome Trakr, a five-year collaboration between the University of California, Davis; Agilent Technologies; and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, promises to perform whole genome sequencing on a total of 100,000 types of common foodborne pathogens. The technology maps the entire DNA sequence of a microbe, and allows scientists to distinguish one strain from another, allowing fast track-back and earlier elimination of outbreaks around the world. The project began in March 2012 and the database, hosted by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, will be available online and at no cost to researchers and public health officials. The zoom-in detail of a sequenced genome will make it possible to distinguish different strains of a microbe that are otherwise indistinguishable, and trace back a small cluster outbreak before it becomes widespread.

Right now that kind of trace-back is difficult without detailed epidemiologic exposure data. A recent study from Cornell University suggests the new technology is an effective and faster replacement. Using whole genome sequencing, researchers were able to double the number of cases associated with a known 2010 outbreak of a strain of salmonella called salmonella Heidelberg at a long-term care facility in New York City. They even found cases outside the metro region.

Whole genome sequencing has already proved successful in halting serious food outbreaks. In 2012 researchers isolated the specific strain in a salmonella outbreak in tuna sushi that sickened 258 individuals, and tracked it back to a processing plant in India. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigated the plant and found 10 sanitation slipups, including four outright violations of safety protocols. In 2014 the FDA was able to halt a U.S.Listeria outbreak that had killed one and sickened seven others. They genotyped and linked the strain to soft Hispanic-style cheeses manufactured by a company called Roos Foods, which ceased all manufacturing after being shut down by the FDA

The gigantic open-access Genome Trakr database should speed up this kind of detective work by providing an enormous volume of data that has already been analyzed. The project’s director, U.C. Davis microbiologist Bart Weimer, says that “We’ve just extended the project to China, and they will map another 10,000 genomes and deposit them. We have other global collaborations pending.”

Sequencing a whole genome is only one of the new approaches to food safety, however. Food fraud prevention is also benefitting from a large international project called The International Barcode of Life (iBOL), which is building a genetic library of all life on Earth. Initiated in 2003 by geneticist Paul Hebert at the University of Guelph in Ontario, it offers a global online database of DNA labels, akin to the bar codes on food packaging, for different species. These DNA bar codes are sequences from a small and stable region of the genome, which can reliably be used to identify a species.

The project has already created over 2.6 million bar-code records for almost 200,000 species of plants and animals, and Hebert hopes to reach 500,000 by the end of 2015. The BOL can distinguish farmed from wild salmon because they are two different species. A 2015 report from the CDC used bar coding to identify imported poisonous puffer fish that were being sold in the U.S. as nonpoisonous varieties. “DNA testing is often the only way to correctly identify food and medicinal products,” says Mark Stoeckle, a researcher at The Rockefeller University who used DNA bar codes to finger fake fish sold in New York City in a 2009 experiment that became known as “sushigate.”

Finally, inspired by the bar-coding idea, one new company, DNATrek, is creating synthetic bar codes for food items. The technology consists of DNA sequences extracted from plants; it is an odorless, colorless and tasteless material which can be mixed with already-in-use food coatings (such as natural waxes and oils) and sprayed on foods. The DNA sequences act like invisible bar codes and can be applied at each point of risk in the food chain: the farm, the sorting facility, the distributor, the packer and even the retailer. These bar codes can be read by polymerase chain reaction testing, a process that generates millions of copies of a small piece of DNA, so that it can be easily identified. “When an outbreak occurs,” says company founder Anthony Zografos, “polymerase chain reaction technology can read the DNA code in about 20 minutes in the laboratory, allowing immediate trace-back rather than weeks or months.”

The codes can also help verify the authenticity of a product like Italian olive oil: The tags should trace back to an olive farm and to packing facilities in Italy. DNATrek’s technology has been approved by the FDA, and this year will be tested in the U.S. supply chain. A similar DNA bar code has been designed by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. There, researcher Robert Grass and colleagues created DNA labels encapsulated in small, food-safe silica particles that are already used as additives in certain foodstuffs. They then added the particles to milk. Later polymerase chain reaction testing was able to detect the labels in cheese and yogurt made from the milk. Regulatory hoops still need to be overcome, before widespread adoption of the second method, however.

DNA Trek’s Zografos thinks that smartphones may one day have apps that can actually detect bacterial contamination or synthetic bar codes. “My colleagues and I were thinking how wonderful that invention could be, but how many years away it was. And then we saw that a professor at U.C.L.A. had developed a smartphone app that could read a single virus or bacteria.” That researcher, bioengineer Aydogan Ozcan, recently published a study with his colleagues showing that a cellphone-based imaging system could detect viruses and nanoparticles. The phone is essentially converted into an advanced fluorescent microscope. The mobile microscopy unit uses the phone's camera to visualize and measure the length of single-molecule DNA strands.

So the day may not be far off when we can hold our phones over a fish fillet to make sure we know what we are eating.

Quick DNA Scans Could Ensure Food Is Safe to Eat

9:01 AM analyse food, dna scan, fish analysis, food, safe food

New research suggests soluble corn fibre may boost calcium absorption

Innovative ingredient may offer one solution for helping adolescents to improve status of two nutrients currently lacking in their diets

Hoffman Estates, IL – Around the globe, fibre and calcium intakes are below the levels recommended by experts^1,2,3contributing to potential long-term public health implications^1,3,4. New research, published this month in theBritish Journal of Nutrition, shows soluble corn fibre (SCF) may not simply boost fibre intake when added to foods, but can also increase the amount of beneficial bacteria present in the gut, while enhancing calcium absorption in adolescents⁵. SCF is a prebiotic fibre that is well tolerated, and is easily incorporated into foods or beverages to boost fibre content. These latest results showing SCF can enhance calcium absorption are significant because during adolescence, a critical time for bone growth, dairy intake tends to decrease, resulting in inadequate calcium intake which is a vital mineral for building and maintaining strong bones.

Researchers studied the potential effect of SCF on calcium absorption and retention in adolescent children with a usual diet that was low in fibre. In a controlled dietary study, adolescent girls and boys who consumed 12g/day fibre from SCF absorbed significantly more calcium (a 12% increase versus a control) than when consuming no SCF. Additionally, the researchers found that when the adolescents consumed SCF, there was an increase in specific strains of beneficial gut bacteria, namely the phylum Bacteroidetes, and these increases were positively correlated with increases in calcium absorption. These results indicate that moderate daily intake of SCF may increase beneficial gut bacteria and also short-term calcium absorption in adolescents who are consuming less than recommended amounts of calcium.

'A decrease in milk consumption among adolescents has led to an increase in deficiency of calcium in the diet, leaving researchers with a particular interest in finding functional foods that can help increase calcium absorption,' stated Connie Weaver, PhD, of Purdue University and lead researcher of the study. 'Dietary factors that enhance bone density and bone mineral content have the potential to contribute to reduced risk of bone fracture later in life.'

If the adolescents in this study had continued to consume SCF, allowing for increased calcium absorption, the researchers estimated that this would lead to additional 41.4 mg/day retained calcium and if persistent over a year would account for an additional 15.1 g of calcium, or about 1.8% of total body calcium.

'On average, people aren't meeting their fibre or calcium intake goals with the foods they currently consume. Adding fibres with functional health benefits to already consumed foods is a realistic and simple way to help address this global public health concern among key age groups,' said Michael Harrison, PhD, Senior Vice President of New Product Development at Tate & Lyle. 'Tate & Lyle has consistently shown a commitment to investing in research that leads to the production of high quality ingredients that allow people to live well and improve their health.'

###

The soluble corn fibre used in the study was added to fruit snacks and provided by Tate & Lyle, a global provider of high-quality, specialty ingredients.

About Tate & Lyle

Tate & Lyle is a global provider of ingredients and solutions to the food, beverage and other industries, operating from over 30 locations worldwide.

Tate & Lyle operates through two global divisions, Speciality Food Ingredients and Bulk Ingredients, supported by our Innovation and Commercial Development Group. The Group's strategy is to become a leading global provider of Speciality Food Ingredients through a disciplined focus on growth, and by driving Bulk Ingredients for sustained cash generation to fuel this growth.

Speciality Food Ingredients consists of three platforms: Texturants, which includes speciality starches and stabilisers; Sweeteners, which comprises nutritive sweeteners and our range of no-calorie sweeteners including SPLENDA® Sucralose; and our Health and Wellness portfolio which includes speciality fibres and our salt-reduction offering. Additionally, our Food Systems business provides a wide variety of blended ingredient solutions.

Tate & Lyle Bulk Ingredients includes bulk sweeteners, industrial starches and fermentation products (primarily acidulants). Corn co-products from both divisions are primarily sold as animal feed.

Tate & Lyle is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol TATE.L. American Depositary Receipts trade under TATYY. In the year to 31 March 2014, Tate & Lyle sales totalled £3.1 billion. http://www.tateandlyle.com. SPLENDA® is a trademark of McNeil Nutritionals, LLC.

New research suggests soluble corn fibre may boost calcium absorption

8:42 AM calcium, diet, fiber rich food, food