Researchers from the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (Conicet) presented this Thursday the development of the probiotic strain “Lactobacillus rhamnosus CRL 1505”, a lactic bacterium that strengthens the immune system to “prevent or deal with respiratory and intestinal infections” and that, applied to a yogurt, transformed the product that is widely distributed into a “functional food” that will reach the population of the whole country.
The initiative was also celebrated this Thursday by President Alberto Fernández and the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Daniel Filmus, in an act held in the Buenos Aires town of Longchamps.
The strain is part of the culture collection of the Reference Center for Lactobacilli (Cerela), which is based in Tucumán and is a national and international benchmark in the study of lactic acid bacteria, as well as a pioneer in technology transfer.
“The yogurt that contains the probiotic microorganism of this strain is already on the shelves, and it is the first time that it will reach the whole of society on a massive scale, through the company of the magnitude of Danone”, Conicet’s main researcher in Cerela and technical manager of the project, María Pía Taranto, told Télam, after the presentation made by the Council and the company in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo.
The research took almost 20 years, said the biochemist specializing in functional foods, who also stressed that she represented a whole group of researchers, technicians from Conicet who carried it out.
“Probiotics are microorganisms that have a beneficial effect once they are incorporated into our body,” explained the biochemist.
And, the strain presented, “has the function of increasing the body’s natural defenses, optimizing the immune response, which allows the body to defend itself much better against infections by viral or bacterial pathogens and to maintain a state of health in our intestines and respiratory system.” “.
In turn, Taranto clarified that “not all lactic acid bacteria are probiotics” and for a microorganism to be considered probiotic it must be the subject of rigorous basic and applied scientific studies that demonstrate the beneficial effect attributed to it.
In the process of developing the technology, the CRL1505 strain went through different phases of research necessary to obtain this status, following the requirements of the relevant national and international regulatory bodies, reported from the Conicet.
These phases included extensive in vitro trials and preclinical (animal) and clinical (human) studies that demonstrated the safety and efficacy of the product.
Regarding the respiratory benefits, the researcher explained to Télam that the immune system “is interconnected”, and although these bacteria enter through ingestion and the first target of action is the intestine, where it ‘triggers’ an immune response, “immunological metabolites travel through the mucous membranes and reach the respiratory mucous membranes.
Meanwhile, he said that this product will be “for all ages” and has now become “a functional food”, which, in addition to all the nutritional contribution it has per se, “has the plus of the benefit of probiotic material”.
At the same time, the probiotic “will not affect the organoleptic characteristics of the yoghurt”.
The Conicet will allocate yogurts provided by the company to public welfare institutions for social purposes. And both the Council and the province of Tucumán will obtain royalties on the sale of the new line of products, reported from the Conicet Technological Linkage Management.
The microorganism presented has been part of social programs for more than ten years. The investigation began from “the shocking data on child malnutrition that plagued the country and particularly our province and that motivated a group of researchers and technicians to come up with a solution based on the expertise we have in functional nutrition.”
“We corroborate that absolutely everything improves,” said the specialist, and stressed that it forms a “virtuous circle” impacting the health system because “by being better fed, we are better nourished and if we are fortunate enough to use probiotics, which help to maintain This well-being naturally contributes to fewer people getting sick and lower health costs”.
“Personally, I feel enormous emotion, pride and gratitude. Working for my country is a priority. With the tools that Conicet and public education give us, we can perhaps go to other parts of the world, but we chose to do science here and see everyone transform the results of research into products for society, for whom we work”, he concluded.
The director of Cerela, the doctor in Biochemistry, Jean Guy LeBlanc, was also present during the event.
The public-private agreement with Danone consists of the licensing of the CRL1505 strain to be incorporated into its line of yogurts and thus be able to offer products with functional properties such as probiotic foods.
“This agreement is unique and novel, it allows us to arrive for the first time with a product at the table of all Argentines.. At Conicet we are very concerned about the prestige and rigor of our research, so when we make that leap so that our technologies can reach the market, we want to do it hand in hand with companies that we trust will take care of that,” he said during the presentation was made by the manager of Technological Linkage of the Conicet, Sergio Romano.
And he stressed that the presence of the Council’s logo on the packaging “is a way to inspire boys and girls from all over the country to be encouraged to be researchers and researchers, and to show the usefulness of research.”
Meanwhile, Danone’s Marketing Director, Laura Rapino, specified that each Yogurísimo will present “100 million probiotics per serving” and that it will be “the first yogurt on the market with probiotics that contribute to respiratory and gastrointestinal health.”
Finally, he stressed that the company “was proud” to be able to make the alliance and “bring scientific development to millions of homes.”
For its part, Filmus expressed its pride in being part of “a government that has placed science and technology and the articulation of the public and private spheres in a central place”; and outlined that “a few days ago it was reported about the destination of 106 million dollars for Conicet equipment and science”, in addition to “works with a federal sense that are being generated”.
