The microbiome innovation has resulted in an umbrella term, postbiotics, which refers to non-viable microbial cells, metabolic byproducts and their microbial components released after lysis. Postbiotics, modulate immune response, gene expression, inhibit pathogen binding, maintain intestinal barriers, help in controlling carcinogenesis and pathogen infections. Postbiotics have antimicrobial, antioxidant, and immunomodulatory properties with favorable physiological, immunological, neuro-hormonal, regulatory and metabolic reactions. Consumption of postbiotics relieves symptoms of various diseases and viral infections such as SARS-CoV-2. Postbiotics can act as alternatives for pre-probiotic specially in immunosuppressed patients, children and premature neonates. Postbiotics are used to preserve and enhance nutritional properties of food, elimination of biofilms and skin conditioning in cosmetics. Postbiotics have numerous advantages over live bacteria with no risk of bacterial translocation from the gut to blood, acquisition of antibiotic resistance genes. The process of extraction, standardization, transport, and storage of postbiotic is more natural. Bioengineering techniques such as fermentation technology, high pressure etc., may be used for the synthesis of different postbiotics. Safety assessment and quality assurance of postbiotic is important as they may induce stomach discomfort, sepsis and/or toxic shock. Postbiotics are still in their infancy compared to pre- and pro- biotics but future research in this field may contribute to improved physiological functions and host health. The current review comprehensively summarizes new frontiers of research in postbiotics.

No abstract

No abstract

As part of integrated newborn care, human milk banks can reduce death and illness as well as lower health-care costs for infants born prematurely, especially with birthweights less than 1,500 g, and for infants born in resource-limited settings without access to their mother’s milk. Promotion of human milk banks is of special significance in India which has the highest burden of such infants. About 50 milk banks are insufficient to meet the needs of vulnerable infants. The government of India has acknowledged the role that human milk banking can play in reducing neonatal mortality and morbidity, and launched the “National Guidelines on Lactation Management Centers in Public Health Facilities” in 2017 with a vision to make breast milk universally available for all infants. The government is now working on an implementation strategy to scale up the lactation management center model (promotion of breastfeeding, kangaroo mother care, and donor human milk) for all newborn care units and delivery centers in the country. However, for effective expansion, it will be important to ensure improved government ownership, mandate availability of standard operating procedures at all facilities, stringent systems of quality control, standardized accreditation, and a robust monitoring system. Local evidence on the effectiveness of the comprehensive lactation management center (CLMC) model and knowledge, practices, and perceptions of human milk banking are limited. There is a need for rigorous implementation, process research, and technology innovation, along with a robust regulatory framework to prevent commercialization. In addition, attitude changes of mothers, maternal influencers, and health-care providers are all essential to successfully expand the CLMC model.

No abstract

No abstract

Adolescents are more susceptible to mental health conditions due to multiple physical, emotional and social changes occurring during this phase. The prevalence of depression, stress and anxiety is rising at an alarming rate in adolescents. Dietary intake has the potential to affect the mental state of an individual which is largely dependent on gut microflora composition. The study thus aims to find the influence of prebiotic and probiotic intake on mental disorders among students. A cross-sectional exploratory study was conducted among 404 college students from India. Data has been collected using convenience sampling and an online structured Google Questionnaire Form. DASS-42 questionnaire was used for collecting information on levels of depression, anxiety and stress and a validated qualitative food frequency questionnaire consisting of 13 food groups with 39 unique food items was used for understanding consumption patterns of prebiotic / probiotic foods. The findings revealed the prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress to be 56.7%, 64.1% and 52% respectively. Consumption of probiotic foods was low except for milk/milk products, vegetables, fruits, wheat / wheat products, biscuits, chocolate and methai. Yogurt and pickles were consumed frequently whereas consumption of miso paste, tausi and yakult were low. Lower consumption of a few prebiotic and probiotic foods was negatively associated with depression, anxiety and stress. This study underlines the beneficial impact of consuming prebiotic and probiotic food on mental health of college going students. Future studies are needed to generate robust evidence for advocating consumption of prebiotic and probiotic food as a preventive and therapeutic measure for promoting mental health.

Context: Self-care activities play a crucial role in the management of diabetes. It can also improve quality of life in patients. Aims: The present study was carried out to understand the QoL and self-care activities among T2DM patients on insulin and find out the association between quality of life and self-care activities. Settings and Design: This study was conducted on 105 subjects (55 females and 45 males) between the ages of 40 and 60 years with more than 1 year of T2DM attending OPD in the endocrinology department of private hospitals in North-east and East Delhi. Materials and Methods: A general questionnaire along with validated self-care (SDSCA) and quality of life (QOLID) questionnaires were used to collect data. Statistical Analysis: Data analysis was done using SPSS version 21.0. For the categorical variable, frequencies and percentages were calculated and for the continuous variables mean and standard deviations were calculated. Results: Mean age of subjects being 51.3 ± 6.2 years and 55% of them were females. It was observed that diet (P = 0.016), exercise (P = 0.001), blood sugar testing (P = 0.017), and foot care (P = 0.018) were strong predictors of self-care that were affecting the QoL. Mean scores of various domains between males and females revealed better QoL in males than females in domains of physical health (3.65 ± 0.94), physical endurance (4.11 ± 0.67), general health (3.19 ± 0.71), treatment satisfaction (3.55 ± 0.44), and overall QoL (3.50 ± 0.39). Conclusions: The present study showed that self-care activities and QoL among T2DM patients were poor. Results showed that improving nutritional status of patients can be effective on their QoL improvement.