EPALINGES, Switzerland– A trial has found that Animal Milk Oligosaccharides (A.M.O.s) manufactured by leading Swiss biotech experts Gnubiotics Sciences can help prevent the effects of antibiotics on the gut microbiome.
The condition of the microbiome is essential to the health and wellbeing of all mammals, but the use of antibiotics can damage its delicate balance. This can have serious effects on animal health: recent studies have found the alteration in the microbiome caused by antibiotics can increase the risk of colorectal cancer in humans.
In addition, there is also the very real problem of antibiotic resistance caused by overuse for routine and preventative treatment. As the number of pets has increased exponentially during the ongoing pandemic – today, more than 85 million households in Europe have at least one – antibiotic resistance is an increasing concern.
However, there could be help in sight for animals and their owners. Headline data from a recent study conducted at the Division of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Illinois, Urbana Cham page (UIUC) in collaboration with the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Texas A&M University shows A.M.O.s manufactured by Gnubiotics helped protect the microbiome of dogs from the negative effects of the antibiotic metronidazole. The study of 12 beagles found the microbiome of the dogs treated with Gnubiotics’ A.M.O. GNU-100 quickly recovered gut bacteria – such as Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Bacteroides and Prevotella.
In addition, important groups of bacteria essential to a healthy gut biome such as Bacteroides spp. and Prevotella spp. were protected from the effects of antibiotics in the dogs treated with the A.M.O.s. What’s more, the study shows that the microbiome of the dogs given GNU-100 soon returned to the full diversity needed for good gut health. However, the microbiomes of beagles in the study not given A.M.O. GNU-100 never returned to full diversity – and thus full health – during the 16-week study.
Leading vet and microbiome expert Dr. Jan Suchodolski, Dr. VetMed and Professor of Small Animal Internal Medicine at Texas A&M, said: “The gut microbiome is important to the health and disease status of dogs and cats. Data from this study provides strong evidence not only on the negative impact of antibiotics on the gut microbiome but also that data-driven solutions such as GNU-100 enable a faster recovery and restoration of key commensals such as Bacteroides.”
Yemi Adesokan, CEO and CSO at Gnubiotics commented: “We are excited and humbled by this first of its kind data and the underlying science that further shows the protective and restorative effect of our A.M.O.s GNU-100 on gut microbiomes altered by antibiotics. We will continue to invest in clinical trials to understand additional beneficial effects of GNU-100 on pet microbiome health and disease.”
