26 Aug 2024 — Synbiotics, especially the combination of human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) and probiotics, have emerged as an innovation platform across all ages pioneered by infant nutrition. Novonesis is spotlighting the potential of this rapidly advancing space by showcasing its portfolio of synbiotic solutions spanning various health areas and life stages, from prenatal care to mature women.
Ahead of the company’s webinar, “Unleashing the power of HMOs & probiotics: Synbiotics across life stages,” Nutrition Insight meets up with the expert speakers participating in this session, Claudia Stoecker, head of B2B portfolio execution at Novonesis and Stine Ninel Hansen, Ph.D., global scientific adviser at the company.
Stoecker and Hansen detail: “Synbiotics are here to stay, and there is so much more to come. They can open endless possibilities and opportunities both scientifically and commercially.”
During the webinar, the speakers will showcase the company’s latest synbiotic solution for infant health and its more comprehensive synbiotic portfolio.
Building awareness
Although there is a growing interest in synbiotics, the Novonesis team also cautions that there is a gap between industry and consumer awareness and knowledge.
Aiming to address the gap, the webinar’s speakers will clarify the synbiotic definition and highlight the opportunity to combine clinically documented probiotics with HMOs rather than combining them with more conventional prebiotics.
“While we see a certain level of awareness of the benefits in combining HMOs and probiotics, there is still a lack of understanding of the different ways that HMOs and probiotics may work together,” explains Hansen. “In this webinar, we will dive into this area, outlining the differences between synergistic and complementary synbiotics and how both can deliver health benefits in an impactful manner.”
“We can support customers in choosing the right synbiotic to address the health needs in question,” she adds.
Synbiotic portfolio
Emerging science indicates that synbiotic solutions may support health beyond infant nutrition. Stoecker highlights that Novonesis recognizes this potential for all life stages.
“We have known for some time now that synbiotics — HMOs and probiotics — are good for infants, but now we are starting to see indications that there are beneficial health effects across other life stages,” she details. “At Novonesis, we are uniquely positioned as world leaders in probiotics and HMOs, and we always want to be at the forefront of science-driven innovation.”
Novonesis will highlight the science behind synbiotics and the potential to combine clinically documented probiotics with HMOs.
During the webinar, Novonesis Human Health Biosolutions will also offer perspectives on harnessing the potential by exploring market trends and consumer insights driving this growth.
Infant health solutions
Stoecker highlights that probiotics and HMOs have been shown to mitigate and support the infant’s gut. “Combining them helps to unleash the full power of their beneficial effects on infants.”
“For example, disruptive factors, such as modern lifestyles, C-sections and formula-feeding, may negatively impact the bifidobacterial abundance naturally present in the infant gut. Providing infants a combination of probiotics and HMOs may mitigate this impact and lay a foundation for lifelong health.”
The expert speakers will delve into the science behind a new synbiotic solution to soothe and protect infant health.
The solution combines BB-12, the most clinically documented Bifidobacterium, with the synergistic duo of the most researched HMO, 2’-Fucosyllactose (2’-FL), and an infant-type Bifidobacterium — the Istilos probiotic strain.
Istilos has been clinically and pre-clinically demonstrated to seed the infant gut and support gut barrier and immunomodulatory functions in infants.
Hansen details: “The synbiotic combination of the BB-12 probiotic strain, the Istilos probiotic strain and 2’-FL, that we will show in this webinar taps into complementary and synergistic effects to provide the best foundation for a healthy start in life.”
By Jolanda van Hal