Korea’s Lotte Food Co. and Lotte R&D Center will team up with Chung Ang University Medical College researchers to develop therapeutic probiotics to help improve diabetes and reduce stress.

The company said on Thursday that its research proposal to develop probiotic materials for the improvement of stress and type 2 diabetes based on microbiome analytics technology was selected by a research grant committee of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

The microbiome is another term for human intestinal microbiota or can refer to the collected genomes of such indigenous microbes. Studies show they are associated with various metabolic control, digestive power, atopy, obesity, diabetes and cancer.

The government will sponsor about half of 2 billion won needed to finance the project until 2021.

Lotte Food will develop a high-performance probiotic ingredient that alleviates the symptoms of diabetes, one of the most serious metabolic diseases today, and also improves stress symptoms, a company spokesman said.

Lotte Food, Lotte R&D Center and Prof. Kim Won-yong of Chung Ang University Medical College have jointly studied the development of lactic acid bacteria that can prevent rotavirus diarrhea.

In April, they signed an agreement for joint research and academic exchanges for functional products and microbiome for infants.

By Lee Duk-joo and Minu Kim

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