A group of researchers at the Public University of Navarre, led by Senior Lecturer in Zoology, Elena Urdaneta Artola, have studied both the mechanisms whereby foodstuffs known as functional act at a gastrointestinal level as well as their possible beneficial effects on the health of individuals.
The study, which will continue until 2006, has received the Ortiz de Landazuri Scholarship for 2004. This is an annual award by the Department of Health of the Navarre Government in recognition of the best project in basic research.
For a number of years now the team has been following a line of investigation on the nutritional modulation of neoplasic and allergic illnesses by means of probiotic and prebiotic foods. Prior to this, they carried out a study on kefir where it was shown that this enhances the digestion of nutrients and their absorption through the digestive tract.
The study is aimed at assessing the physiological, morphological and immunological effects observed in healthy and transgenic experimental animales, produced by various probiotic and prebiotic substances contained in experimental diets.
Amongst the prebiotics being used are quercetine and sphyngolipids. The first is a flavonoid found in most vegetables while sphyngomyelin is found in the cellular membranes of vegetables. With probiotics we find two types of bacteria, Lactobacillus casei and Bifidobacterium bifidum which are present in yoghourts and milk products that are partially fermented.
One of the primary aims of the study is to find out if the probiotic and prebiotic foods have a beneficial effect on healthy persons using the latest techniques in molecular biology and cellular growths.