Chief scientific officer Kiran Krishnan told NutraIngredients-USA that the company recently conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled study on the effect of the company’s probiotic product on controlling leaky gut and the chronic inflammation that can arise from this condition. In an interview at the recent Expo West trade show in Anaheim, CA, Krishnan said that once the word got out, HIV researchers associated with the mixture University of Rochester approached the company to discuss a trial funded by the National Institutes of Health to see if the probiotic mixture, which is made of Bacillus indicus HU36, Bacillus coagulans, Bacillus clausii and Bacillus subtilis HU58, could help HIV sufferers.
HIV-induced leaky gut
“From our leaky gut study we found that our strains actually afford protection in sealing up the gut and preventing the leaking of toxins into the blood stream,” Krishnan said. “What the HIV researchers identified in their research is that HIV-associated leaky gut is the No. 1 cause of mortality in HIV subjects. That starts off as chronic diarrhea but it then increases their risk for a whole host of diseases.”
“The hope is that this could become an important supportive therapy for HIV subjects,” he said.
Krishnan said the nascent HIV study could open the door for a pharmaceutical positioning for the product. But he said the company intends to keep it as a supplement, to make it available to as wide a range of consumers as possible.
The company also makes an antioxidant claim, which sets it apart from the rest of the field.
The claim is based on the work of Dr. Simon Cutting, who is a professor at Royal Holloway University in London. Cutting did work on colored strains of several Bacillus species that secrete carotenoids. It’s among a suite of studies Cutting has done on the spore forming organisms dating back to the late 80s. In his most recent study Cutting and his associates identified the genetic pathway by which these yellow, orange and pink carotenoids were produced. Once the organisms start to grow in the gut the company claims they secrete carotenoids like lutein, lycopene and zeaxanthin.