CORRECTING and REPLACING GRAPHIC House Wellness Foods Corporation Unveils the Immunobiotic Ingredient "Immuno-LP20" for the North American Market

ITAMI, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Please replace the graphic for release dated February 6, 2013 with the accompanying corrected graphic.

“The 41st Annual Meeting of The Japanese Society for Immunology (2012, Kobe)”

The release reads:

HOUSE WELLNESS FOODS CORPORATION UNVEILS THE IMMUNOBIOTIC INGREDIENT “IMMUNO-LP20” FOR THE NORTH AMERICAN MARKET

Daily intake of heat-treated Lactobacillus plantarum strain L-137 may reduce the incidence of the common cold in the healthy people who feel psychological stress strongly through enhancing cellular immunity

House Wellness Foods Corporation starts the sales promotion of a proprietary immunity ingredient “Immuno-LP20” in North America. House Wellness Foods Corporation has positioned this ingredient as an “Immunobiotic^a)” ingredient rather than a standard “probiotic” ingredient with the goal for its widespread adoption in supplements and foods applications.

Immuno-LP20 is the powder which contains heat-treated lactic acid bacteria Lactobacillus plantarum L-137 (HK L-137). The L-137 strain was originally isolated from “a fermented fish and rice dish” which is a traditional food in Asia.

HK L-137 powerfully induces the production of interleukin 12 (IL-12), a cytokine which raises the T helper 1 (Th1) type immune response (often referred to as cellular immunity). The anti-allergic and anti-tumor effects of HK L-137 have been confirmed through animal testing.

Moreover, Th1/Th2 balance and T cell proliferation, which are index of cellular immunity, were improved in human clinical trials. Human clinical trials with HK L-137 also demonstrated an improvement in quality of life (QOL)¹⁾.

The most recent clinical study demonstrates the ability of HK L-137 to support the production of type I Interferon (IFN). Type I IFN inhibits the multiplication of viruses. In testing with mice infected with H1N1 influenza, the influenza virus count decreased in mice through oral administration of HK L-137²⁾. Type I IFN production is also increased in humans through ingestion of HK L-137³⁾.

Through these results, HK L-137 is suggested to be effective in protection against infectious diseases, such as viruses, through augmentation of cellular immunity, and induction of type I IFN production.

Thus, the effects of ingestion of HK L-137 on upper respiratory tract infection (URTI also referred to as the common cold) and immune function were investigated in the double-blinded, placebo-controlled randomized trial.

In the trial 78 healthy people (33 men and 45 women with an average age 50.6 y) who felt severe psychological stress^b) were divided into two groups at random. One group ingested 1 tablet containing 10 mg of HK L-137 and another ingested a placebo tablet daily for 12 weeks.

The T cell proliferation, an index of cellular immunity, was measured before and after 4 weeks, 8 weeks and 12 weeks of ingestion. URTI was investigated every day using a questionnaire (Wisconsin Upper Respiratory Symptom Survey-21: WURSS-21).

As a result, incidence of URTI was significantly lower in HK L-137 group as compared with the placebo group. The duration and severity of the common cold and the number of days during which medication was required also showed a significant negative correlation with the duration of HK L-137 ingestion. Moreover, in the HK L-137 ingestion group, T cell proliferation significantly increased as compared with the placebo group.

Through these new findings that daily ingestion of lactic acid bacteria supports human cellular immunity and helps to prevent the common cold, we look to propose its new application as an “Immunobiotic.”

House Wellness Foods Corporation has shown that daily intake of HK L-137 decreases the incidence of upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) in human clinical trial.

		4 weeks	8 weeks	12 weeks
Incidence (number of cases)	Control	21	14	12
Incidence (number of cases)	HK L-137	21	8	6

These results were made a presentation in “The 41st Annual Meeting of The Japanese Society for Immunology (2012, Kobe)” and will be published in paper in the near future.

A major feature of this ingredient is that the special bacterium is subjected to a specific heat treatment. The high degrees of efficacy and stability of this bacterium are the result of conducting a heat treatment at an optimal condition of time and temperature to potentiate its immune characteristics in a process that kills the live bacteria. Therefore, this ingredient can be used for various food uses, such as supplements, powdered drinks, baked goods and soft drinks without concerns common to most live probiotic bacteria and may be propose the new life style corresponding to consumers' needs of health.

This ingredient is already applied to supplements and powdered drinks in Japan. House Wellness Foods Corporation launched overseas deployment and started sale of Immuno-LP20 in Taiwan market in 2010.

The safety of this ingredient is well proven. In the U.S., House Wellness Foods Corporation obtained “Self-Affirmed Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS)" and the formal notification of "New Dietary Ingredient (NDI)” to the U.S. FDA was accepted in August, 2012.

House Wellness Foods Corporation starts sale promotion mainly to supplement and food companies at North America aiming at the further overseas deployment.

a) Immunobiotics

They differ from “Probiotics” and are defined as “the microbe which promotes immune system through activation of gut immunity.”

It is the concept advocated by Robert Clancy in 2003.

（FEMS Immunol Med Microbiol. 2003 Aug 18;38(1):9-12. Review.）

b) The healthy people who feel psychological stress strongly

Seventy eight healthy subjects with more than 42 scores for 18-item sub-scales of psychological distress in the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire enrolled in this study.

It is well known that the people with high levels of psychological stress are more likely to catch a cold easily because they have a weakened immune system.

Notes:

1) J Nutr. 2006 136(12):3069-73.
2) Int Immunopharmacol. 2009 9(9):1122-5.
3) Immunopharmacol Immunotoxicol. 2012 34(6):937-43.

For more about the HK L-137, please refer to the following website: http://hk-l-137.com/index_e.html