EDITORIAL PAGE

Preventing or reducing the risk of disease is preferable to treating disease. Probiotics have emerged as the major nutritional factor influencing gastrointestinal physiology and function. This development introduces many challenges, but also creates new opportunities for food and nutrition scientists to improve food quality and develop new products with specific health benefits for different subpopulations (Diplock et al., 1999).

As the IFT Scientific Status Summary—“Probiotics” (pages 67 - 77),…