
The human microbiota can be regarded as an additional organ per se and performs a wide range of functions, from facilitating the digestion to producing vitamins, modulating the risk of metabolic diseases and helping shape the immune system. However, extensive use of antibiotics and disinfectants in modern societies, as well as dietary changes, have resulted in a significant decline of microbiota diversity. AB-Biotics identified areas where modern lifestyle has had little impact and thus the original microbiota has been preserved. These areas are known to display a low incidence of immune and metabolic disorders, an observation that led to the development of the “hygiene hypothesis”. As a consequence, AB-Biotics conducted several expeditions to isolate Lactic Acid Bacteria Strains from healthy individuals living in those areas, in order to build a strains bank composed of “microbial old friends” whose numbers are declining in the microbiotas of people living in modern societies. Currently, AB-Biotics owns a strains bank with a collection of more than 550 different wild-type strains of human origin sampled from different areas in the world. |