Dupont Danisco: Howaru Protect’s Probiotic Immune Benefits for Children Confirmed in Adults, Too

Dupont Danisco (Copenhagen) says that a successful human clinical trial was carried out in Australia to determine whether its Howaru Protect probiotic strain’s immune health benefits seen in children also apply to an adult population. The company says it will present the results of this study on September 6 at the upcoming Vitafoods Asia trade show in Hong Kong.

The company says that the study recruited 263 randomized healthy physically active adults who were given a placebo or Howaru Protect for 150 days. “The positive results of this new study in healthy adults support and build on the previously published outstanding results on children,” the company says, referring to a study published by S Li et al. in Pediatrics in August 2009, “Probiotic Effects on Cold and Influenza-Like Symptom Incidence and Duration in Children.”

The company reports that the benefits in adults included a reduction in the number of days experiencing common cold- and flu-associated symptoms, a trend in the reduction of cold and flu medicine use, and a reduced rate of chest illness symptom episodes.