DANONE AND THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CENTER (ISTC) HOST THE FIRST MOSCOW-BASED ‘SCIENTIFIC CAFÉ’ DEVOTED TO NUTRITION AND HEALTHY LIVING

Moscow, 22 September 2010. Danone and The International Science and Technology Center (ISTC) hosted a “scientific café” for journalists on the subject of probiotics and health. “Scientific café” is a program of expert presentations and discussions aimed to make scientific issues easier to understand by general public. Danone and ISTC plan to hold such events regularly in Russia.

The first "cafe" was devoted to probiotic food products. Probiotics is the term for live microorganisms which, when administered in adequate quantities, confer a health benefit to the host, notably for the immune system, digestion, and provide general well-being. Probiotics became an area of serious research over 100 year ago when the Russian scientist and Nobel Prize winner, E. Metchnikoff, published the results of his work. 

Danone Research, leaders in nutritional health and probiotic research, invited three prominent experts from Russia and France to discuss the benefits of probiotic nutrition:

Alexander Netrusov - Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor, Head of the SubDepartment of Microbiology, Department of Biology, Moscow State University
Boris Shenderov – MD, Professor, Head of Probiotics and Functional Food Products Department, Moscow Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology
Jean-Michel Faurie – Danone Research, Culture Fermentation & Probiotics, Gut Microbiology & Probiotics Platform

Chantal Cayuela, Research and Development Director, Danone Eastern Europe commented: “We see a great potential in collaboration with Russian experts for probiotic research. The mission of Danone is to bring health through food to as many people as possible. Using the latest scientific discoveries in creation of new products helps us fulfill this mission around the world. In Russia through cooperation with the ISTC we’ve developed several projects aimed to further study potential application of probiotics in dairy products”. 

ISTC’s Executive Director, Adriaan van der Meer, speaking at the event noted: “ISTC, recognizing the demand of its partner, Danone Research and the international scientific community engaged in nutritional research, initiated in 2008 a Targeted Initiative Program to encourage cooperative research into probiotics. In the framework of this program, collaboration between over 100 Russian, Georgian and Commonwealth of Independent States institutes and their international peer institutes have been established”.

Probiotics is the term for live microorganisms which, when administered in adequate quantities, confer a health benefit to the host, notably for the immune system, digestion, and provide general well-being

Read ISTC Executive Director's Opening Speech

from the left: Boris Shenderov, Jean-Michel Faurie, Chantal Cayuela (Danone Eastern Europe R&D Director), Alexander Netrusov

Media Contacts: 
For full information on the work of Danone and Danone Research, contact
Olesya Leontieva, tel: +7 495 777 90 40 ext. 4109, cell: +7 985 904 77 87
e-mail: olesya.leontieva@danone.com

For full information on the work of ISTC, contact:
English language: Steve Bourne, Telephone +7 (495) 982 3141, e-mail bourne@istc.ru
Russian language: Sebastien Dakin, Telephone +7 (495) 982 3264, e-mail: dakin@istc.ru