Summer 2009 - St. Joseph's Health Care London

28
By Melissa Beilhartz
“Charity is
nothing, if we
think we have
nothing to give.
Yet, each day
in many parts
of the world,
people with
‘nothing’ give of
themselves.”
DR. GREGOR REID
Dr. Gregor Reid and one of the “yogurt mamas.”
vim & vigour · summer 2009
Dr. Gregor Reid of St. Joseph’s Health Care,
London is dedicated to improving health in Africa
“Be inspired. Be yourself. You can make a
difference.” These are the words of Dr. Gregor
Reid, and he lives by them.
World-renowned for his breakthrough
research in probiotics, Dr. Reid had a dream
that began many years ago when he dedicated
his career to advancing health through medical
research. A father, husband, researcher
and humanitarian, Dr. Reid has a passion that
spans the Atlantic Ocean to the disease-stricken
areas of Africa, where over 22 million adults
and children are living with HIV.
beginning with bacteria
Probiotics are described as products containing
live microbes in a concentration and formulation
suffi cient to provide a specifi c health benefi
t. Now a household name, they are naturally
occurring bacteria that are essentially added
back into the body, mostly by mouth, to enhance
immunity and disease-fi ghting capabilities.
Dr. Reid and his team have made outstanding
discoveries in how lactic acid bacteria and
probiotics improve human nutrition, health
and longevity.
In 2001, Dr. Reid established the Canadian
Research & Development Centre for Probiotics
at Lawson Health Research Institute (Lawson) in
London. The centre,
located at St. Joseph’s
Hospital, has since
become internationally
recognized for
its probiotic research
and pursuit of excellent
basic, discovery,
developmental and
translational research
leading to tangible
benefi ts for humans.
“We need to regard
bacteria as part of us,”
explains Dr. Reid. “People are constantly trying
to wipe them [bacteria] out, and you can’t do
that without consequences.”
yogurt mamas
As a member of The University of Western
Ontario’s Western Heads East (WHE) program,
Dr. Reid has helped establish a community
kitchen in Mwanza, Tanzania, an area engulfed
by an HIV/AIDS epidemic. Through outstanding
support of Western students, the community
now has a dedicated group of “yogurt mamas,”
who produce a probiotic yogurt (“Fiti”—Swahili
for health) that was created by Dr. Reid, Dr. Shari
Hekmat and others in London, Ontario. The
yogurt is distributed free of charge to 125 HIV
patients each day, thanks to WHE donations,
and sold to the local community for less than
$1 Canadian per litre. In addition, Dr. Reid has
established a “Lawson Africa” research site at
the National Institute for Medical Research in
Mwanza. There, studies are coordinated to better
understand the benefi ts provided by the Fiti.
This is translational research at its very
essence, says Dr. Reid. Studies have found that
daily ingestion of Fiti can enhance immunity
in people with HIV/AIDS. Also, it can alleviate
chronic diarrhea and fatigue, provide nutrition
and help restore energy so that men and women
can perform their daily work and chores, and
children can go to school and learn. WHE has
now purchased a plot of land outside of the city
that will allow the yogurt mamas to scale up
production, keep their own cows, and create a
sustainable social business.
The success of the program in Africa has Dr.
Reid and colleagues thinking toward the future.
“Our research in Nigeria has shown that our
probiotics are effective, making us all the more
determined to transfer our discoveries to Kenya,
Bangladesh and other places where people are
living and dying on less than a dollar a day.”