ESPGHAN 2015

4000 health care professionals within the paediatric field participated at the congress. BioGaia was a proud silver sponsor presenting the paediatric product range and the latest scientific data in infantile colic and other functional gastrointestinal disorders.

Thanks to the great interest in our science and in the products, our participation at the congress was very successful.

Some highlights from the scientific program are presented below

This year’s scientific program covered topics like IBD, eosinophilic oesophagitus, reflux as well as celiac and liver disease, making sure there was something for everyone.

During one of the abstract sessions Nicole Rutten looked at post partum antibiotic treatment in infants, showing that it really disturbs the development of the intestinal microbiota. Especially the levels of bacteroidetes were affected by antibiotic treatment and Rutten speculated what effect this might have in the future, as low numbers of bacteroidetes are associated to allergy, asthma and diabetes.

During the probiotic symposium Hania Szajewska discussed the need of a new regulatory system for probiotics taking into account the fact that different probiotics have different levels of scientific support. She explained that probiotics today are classified as food or food supplements, and hence they must follow the food regulations. EFSA is approving health claims on food and food supplements in Europe, and no probiotic has received any so far. She further explained that there are some probiotics with registered medical claims – but most of these registrations are old ones and would most likely not be approved as of today. Both EMEA and FDA lack the definition of probiotics and hence it is very difficult for probiotics to have any approved medical claims. In the end she showed the ISAAP proposal from 2014 suggesting four different regulatory levels from live bacteria/culture all the way to probiotic drugs.

Overall, it was interesting to see that L. reuteri Protectis was mentioned not only whenever infantile colic was on the agenda but also during the session presenting an overview of different guidelines for treatment of GER and GERD. The session covered the 2009 and 2013 NASPGHAN/ESPGHAN guidelines, the 2014 Cochrane review and the 2+15 UK guidelines. It was also presented that, even though not included in the guidelines, one might be able to prevent regurgitations with probiotics, quoting the prevention study of Dr Flavia Indrio from 2014, where L. reuteri Protectis showed prevention of not only regurgitation but also of constipation and infantile colic.

For more information on the congress please see the ESPGHAN website.

The European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) is a multi-professional organisation whose aim is to promote the health of children with special attention to the gastrointestinal tract, liver and nutritional status, through knowledge creation, the dissemination of science based information, the promotion of best practice in the delivery of care and the provision of high quality education for paediatric gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition professionals in Europe and beyond.