'The evidence around probiotics and their use in cardiovascular health is really expanding,' expert says
"It's one of the areas where the benefits of probiotics have gotten outside of the gut and expanded to other parts of the body," chief scientific officer Gregory Leyer, PhD of UAS Labs told us during the conference.
He has a PhD in Food Microbiology and Toxicology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and started his career working in medical nutritional product development.
A few strains have been studied for their potential health benefits, he said, but Dr. Leyer's research looked at Lactobacillus reuteri LRC, a commercially available strain which UAS Labs markets.
"It has really unique characteristics," he said about the strain. "Some of the characteristics are common amongst all intestinal microbiota, but there's some uniqueness in this strain that brings with it a high level of efficacy in the body."
During his presentation, he argued that there is now evidence that supplementing the human gut with active probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri LRC can affect the lipid profile and markers of inflammation.
"The implications of this is quite profound because the application of probiotics outside the gut for benefits outside of the traditional digestive health is really an emerging area," he said.
"In this case we have a very dialed in mechanism of action based on a certain enzyme activity, and physiology in the gut that affects circulating LDL cholesterol levels."
