The Global Prebiotic Association announces four new member companies

Photo © Stock.adobe.com/Michail Petrov

The Global Prebiotic Association (GPA; Chicago, IL) has announced the additional of a new board member, Univar Solutions (Downers Grove, IL), a member level organization, Kyowa Hakko Bio (Tokyo, Japan), and two associate level members, Anagenix (Auckland, New Zealand) and Firmenich (Satigny, Switzerland).

“We are excited to join the board of the Global Prebiotic Association and work together in raising awareness for prebiotics,” says Matthew Ottaway, senior vice president of global consumer solutions for Univar Solutions, in a press release. “Univar Solutions has been promoting and selling prebiotics for over a decade, and joining the Association strengthens and signals our commitment to this rapidly growing market and our global strategic partners in this space.”

GPA defines a prebiotic as “A product or ingredient that is utilized in the microbiota producing a health or performance benefit” and a prebiotic effect as: “A health or performance benefit that arises from alteration of the composition and/or activity of the microbiota, as a direct or indirect result of the utilization of a specific and well-defined product or ingredient by microorganisms.” The association champions the prebiotic category by raising public awareness and understanding the science that supports prebiotics’ benefits.

“We know from our consumer research that prebiotic awareness among supplement consumers is up to over 85% according to our latest ITC Insight reports and this category continues to grow rapidly,” said GPA executive director, Len Monheit. “Adding these new members is significant because they extend GPA’s global presence, they are all getting quite deeply engaged and they also represent category best in class.”

“GPA has an extensive work plan which is focused on increasing public awareness about the production, quality, and science of prebiotic products, expanding understanding of the solid science supporting both well-known and newfound benefits, and creating needed transparency about their interaction with the microbiome,” Monheit added. “Expanding our member roster helps GPA expand its scope and reach, doing more for the category globally.”