Mutaflor is a probiotic product manufactured in Germany by Ardeypharm. It contains a beneficial strain of E.coli bacteria known as E.coli Nissle 1917.
This bacteria was discovered in 1917 during the First World War by Professor Alfred Nissle. Professor Nissle isolated the strain from the faeces of a soldier who had not developed enterocolitis, unlike all of his comrades. Subsequent research showed that this particular strain of E.coli, known since then as E.coli Nissle 1917, has a large number of beneficial qualities and is helpful therapeutically and prophylactically in many diseases.
According to Ardeypharm E.coli is the most prominent colonizer of a baby's gut - which is sterile before birth, but is subject to colonization as soon as the baby leaves the womb. E.coli as aerobic bacteria colonize the gut and prepare the way for colonization by anaerobic bacteria. Beneficial strains of E.coli help estabilish a healthy gut flora by creating a microbial barrier against infection and colonization by pathogenic bacteria and by stimulating and regulating the gut-associated lymphoid
tissue (GALT) - areas of the gut containing large amounts of immune system cells and tissues.
Ardeypharm state that the E.coli Nissle 1917 strain found in Mutaflor has particular advantages in that it is:
- readily mobile and able to colonize the gut
- antagonistically active against pathogens
- Vital and strong ('biologically fit')
- able to modulate the immune system
Mutaflor provides E.coli Nissle 1917 in enteric coated gelatin capsules which remain intact until they reach the final sections of the small intestine and the colon.
E.coli Nissle 1917 has undergone numerous clinical trials and has been shown to be beneficial in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), diarrhoea, chronic constipation, liver disease, and respiratory allergies, and a number of other diseases.
