SYNOPSIS
Prebiotics and probiotics are commonly used supplements, and there has been much interest in using them in improving gut health. The gut carries approximately 70% of one’s immune system so it plays a highly essential role in one’s overall immunity and physical health. Yet there exists a lot of confusion and controversy in the actual benefits of these supplements. Many food and health products also claim to contain prebiotics and probiotics, enticing consumers by their supposed health benefits. Particularly in the field of oncology, there are also concerns surrounding the safety of probiotic consumption, since these are live bacterial products being consumed by individuals with weakened immune systems.
We aim to examine the current understanding of prebiotics and probiotics, and to determine whether these supplements are of true benefit to one’s overall health.
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SPEAKER
Dr James Huang
Consultant, Division of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Nutrition, Hepatology and Liver Transplantation, Department of Paediatrics, Khoo Teck Puat - National University Children's Medical Institute, National University Hospital
Consultant, Paediatric Liver Transplantation, National University Centre for Organ Transplantation, National University Hospital
Assistant Professor, Department of Paediatrics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
National University of Singapore
Dr James Huang is a Consultant in the Division of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Nutrition, Hepatology and Liver Transplantation in National University Hospital. His main clinical interest is in Paediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease and is the clinical lead for diagnostic and therapeutic Paediatric Endoscopy in the department. He is one of the pioneer members for the Asian Paediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease network and has successfully inaugurated the use of a centralised registry to pool disease and therapeutic data across major paediatric gastroenterology centres in Asia. He is active in undergraduate and postgraduate education, and conducts regular educational lectures in Paediatric Gastroenterology for general paediatricians and medical students/nursing staff.
Dr James Huang graduated with honours from National University Singapore in 2007 as the medical school class valedictorian and was awarded the Dean's List award for all 5 professional examinations. He was awarded the GlaxoSmithKline book prize, Tan Choon Kim book prize, Medical Class of 1975 Gold Medal in Pathology, Margaret Lee Ming Yee Memorial Medal and Albert Lim Liat Juay Silver Medal for being the top student in Microbiology and Immunology, Neuroscience and Pathology respectively. He was also awarded the Dean's Most Outstanding House Officer award for Housemanship Year 2007-2008. He was appointed membership of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (United Kingdom) and subsequently completed his advanced specialist training in Paediatrics. He is the first paediatrician in Singapore to receive formal double accreditation in Paediatric Medicine and Paediatric Gastroenterology, fulfilling clinical training and endoscopy accreditation criterion aligned with the European Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition. He has also been awarded the Masters in Clinical Investigation coursework and currently is the principal investigator leading the study of the Microbiome and Metabolomics in Paediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease. He was also awarded the NUHS Academic Medicine Development Award to complete an Advanced Paediatric Gastrointestinal Fellowship in Paediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto Canada. During his fellowship, he was fully accredited as an Epic Systems Physician Builder.
MODERATOR:
Ms Laura Mei Lian Tan
Senior Nursing Lecturer, Global Outreach Program (Asia Pacific Region)
Paediatric Oncology, Department of Paediatrics
VIVA-University Children's Cancer Centre, National University Hospital
Ms Laura Tan works at the VIVA-University Children’s Cancer at the National University Hospital as the Global Outreach Senior Nursing Lecturer where she focuses on expanding Nursing training to nurses in the Asia Pacific Region. Helping the nurses in the region to achieve their vision of how Paediatric Oncology Nursing can help transform the lives of children diagnosed with childhood cancer.
She also works with St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, The Kandang Kerbau Women’s and Children Hospital and VIVA to establish the St Jude VIVA Asia Pacific Nursing Institute, focusing on planning and training regional nurses to enhance and provide quality nursing care for all diagnosed with childhood cancers. She supports and guide regional nurses in providing Patient Family Education to ensure a continuity of care whilst patients are nursed by caregiver at home.