(Feb. 24, 2015) The Gut Microbiota For Health World Summit, which will be held for the fourth time, has become the internationally leading platform for scientific exchange and discussion in this booming area of research. In the past years, a number of exciting discoveries with potential medical and nutritional applications have shifted the microbial communities inside the human gut into the focus of scientific, as well as public, attention.

To keep themselves up-to-date on the most recent advances in the field, physicians, as well as nutritionists and health-care professionals from all areas, will come together at the 4th Gut Microbiota For Health World Summit (GMFH) in Barcelona. The congress was initiated as an annual event in 2012 by the Gut Microbiota & Health Section of the European Society of Neurogastroenterology and Motility (ESNM, http://www.esnm.eu) with the support of Danone Dairy. In 2013, the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA, http://www.gastro.org) joined as a new partner, which in 2014 hosted the event in Miami, FL, USA. This year three, other renowned societies in the field of gastroenterology have joined the GMFH partnership: the European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation (ECCO, http://www.ecco-ibd.eu), the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN, http://www.espghan.med.up.pt), and the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL, http://www.easl.eu). Among others, the following questions will be addressed in lectures, workshops and poster sessions:

Which links exist between the gut microbiota and cancer of the colon and the liver?

How does the gut microbiota composition influence infants' and children's health?

What kind of effect do dietary habits and consumption of probiotics and prebiotics have on our gut microbiota?

Does an unbalanced gut microbiota composition induce or aggravate inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)?

Media services

Journalists are welcome to attend the Gut Microbiota For Health World Summit with all its lectures and workshops free of charge. For registration and further information on the summit programme, please refer to the following website: http://summit-registration.gutmicrobiotaforhealth.com.

During the Summit the Plenary Sessions can be accessed via live webcasts (http://www.gutmicrobiotaforhealth.com).

An online press-service will be available immediately after the summit, including fact sheets, infographics and video interviews with congress speakers. Follow @GMFHx on Twitter. You can follow the Twitter coverage of the event using #GMFH2015.

Provided by American Gastroenterological Association