Bhubaneswar: A new probiotic bacteria has been developed by the scientists of Institute of Life Sciences (ILS) in Bhubaneswar to address the health, nutrition and well-being of Odisha tribal communities.
The ILS, a centre of excellence in biotechnology research, has put forward a novel research initiative in addressing the health issue of the tribals three years back, under the leadership of former director of ILS, late Dr Ajay Parida.
The Biotechnology Department of Government of India supported the ILS flagship program on tribal health and nutrition.
The scientists of ILS had planned to explore the use of beneficial microorganisms to improve the health and wellbeing of Odisha’s tribes.
Realising the unique food habits, culture and ecosystems of tribes of Odisha, the scientists of ILS planned to isolate and characterize potential probiotics which are good microbes providing health benefits to humans and animals when taken live in adequate amounts.
ILS sources said these helpful organisms are known to be useful in the prevention and control of multiple health-associated problems such as diarrhoea, obesity and many immunological disorders.
Dr Shantibhusan Senapaiti led group from ILS has isolated multiple probiotics and characterized those.
ILS Director Dr Pulok Kumar Mukherjee, who is also the principal investigator of the ILS flagship project, expressed his immense happiness about this achievement and stated that it would develop functional foods by using the probiotics in future.
As the origins of these probiotics are from the Odisha tribes, Dr Senapati said the health-promoting effects of these organisms will be more beneficial to the tribal people of the state.
It would also help in improving the overall health status in future, he claimed.
UNI