Lallemand’s probiotic to be studied for effects on Lou Gehrig’s disease

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The Rosell Institute for Microbiome and Probiotics, established by probiotics supplier Lallemand Health Solutions (Mirabel, Canada), announced that the company’s probiotic strain L. rhamnosus HA-114 will be the focus of a new study on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also called “Lou Gehrig’s disease,” a progressive nervous system disease impacting the brain, spinal cord, and muscle control.

A three-year, $1.6 million research grant was bestowed by the Weston Family Foundation as part of its “Brain Health: 2021 – Lifestyle Approaches and Microbiome Contributions” program. The probiotic research study will be headed by CHUM Research Centre in Quebec and Alex Parker, a professor in the department of neurosciences at the Université de Montréal.

Said Lallemand in a press release, “Thanks to this grant, Alex Parker will be able to study, among other things, the ability of the probiotic L. rhamnosus HA-114 from the company Lallemand Health Solutions, with whom he collaborates, to slow the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). This research project will be the subject of a pan-Canadian clinical study conducted on 100 patients and piloted at the CHUM.”

“Together we hope to learn how certain bacterial strains protect the nervous system from degeneration in ALS. These findings will help develop new therapeutic approaches,” said Parker.

The Weston Family Foundation launched the “Brain Health: 2021 – Lifestyle Approaches and Microbiome Contributions” program in November 2020. Jointly run by the Weston Brain Institute and the Weston Family Microbiome Initiative, the program, with $8 million in funding, “was designed to support projects examining the impact of lifestyle and the microbiome on the maintenance of optimal brain health, and specifically the prevention or delay of neurodegenerative disease of aging, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.”