News
2018.12.12
Organized by the Centre Ofmom (Ex Mater Ecclesiae), the event brought together national andinternational experts on postpartum and intestinal microbiota issues.
On October 26 took place in Rome, Via della Pineta Sacchetti 502, the first International Symposium
on the care of the mother and child, established by the Centre Ofmom (formerly Mater Ecclesiae).
The Ofmom centres, already operating in Beijing, Seoul and Los Angeles, offer professional services 24 hours,aimed at new mothers and their families, guaranteeing the highest levels of quality and safety for therecovery of the total well-being of women, through personalized courses composed of yoga classes,massages, beauty treatments, relaxation moments, music therapy and food programs, all managedin a multidisciplinary way by qualified doctors, nurses, dieticians and chefs.
The next opening of the first Centre Ofmom in Italy in Rome, which among other things will support theproject to create the first Italian BioBank for the study of the intestinal microbiota of mother and newborn,was celebrated by the important international meeting coordinated by the President of HANMI Science, Mr.Chong Yoon Lim, attended by representatives from the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Italy, guests fromItaly, China and Korea.
Among the participants were Prof. Marco Elefanti, Director of the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, Prof. AntonioLanzone, Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the same Polyclinic and Prof. Antonio Gasbarrini,Professor of Gastroenterology at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Rome, and Director of theComplex Operative Unit in Gastroenterology and Internal Medicine at the Gemelli Polyclinic.
During the Symposium the importance of the biological, metabolic and psycho-physical balances establishedduring the pre and postpartum, of how to preserve them and strengthen the maternal recovery to protectthe newborn was discussed. Great importance has been attributed to the role of nutrition in promoting thephysical and psychological health of the new mother, and how the mediation of the interaction betweenfood and body, operated by the intestinal microbiota that influences the maturation of the immune system,can condition the state of health of pregnant women, laying the groundwork for the healthy development ofthe fetus during gestation and the newborn at birth.
As emerged from the World Health Organization's report on targeted prevention to combat chronic diseaseepidemics in the world, the adoption of correct lifestyles and proper nutrition could save as many as 36million lives in the next 10 years. In this regard it would be interesting to highlight the potential of microbiotastudies for prevention purposes.
The various national and international experts from Italy, China and Korea, taking stock of the state ofresearch on the microbiota of the mother and the child, have therefore underlined the importance for theindividual since birth, starting from the mother - baby relationship during gestation.
Among the Italian experts in the study of the microbiota and its relations, Prof. Gasbarrini intervened, whohighlighted various aspects and clinical studies on the health of the mother and child microbiota, asprevention of many diseases at risk of becoming chronic, such as diabetes.
The mother's microbiota, strictly influenced by food choices, is fundamental for a correct development ofthe child's immune system and that is why, during the Symposium, there has been a long discussion aboutthe correct diet and how it can change the intestinal microbiota, whose health, as many studies on theintestinal-brain axis now affirm, is highly correlated to that of our neurological functions and our psyche.
The first Italian BioBank for the study of the microbiota of mother and child
In Italy a center for the health of women at 360 degrees
The first Italian BioBank of the mother and child, an initiative included in the broader project of collaborationbetween Italy and Korea involving the Gemelli Polyclinic and the Centre Ofmom of Rome, aims to makestudies on the intestinal microbiota concrete, to develop scientific research strategies for the health ofpregnant women and for the understanding of the methodologies to support new mothers, so that nutritionbecomes a real tool able to guarantee the correct development of the newborn.
The Catholic University of the Sacred Heart will support this project with training activities of the Health staffof the Center Ofmom, to create new professional figures and to learn and improve the therapeutic plans upto now used.
For the coordination of the research of BioBank, the Centre Ofmom avails itself of the support of Dr. MarinaElli, head of the research center AAT-Advanced Analytical Technologies, spin off of the Catholic University ofthe Sacred Heart, which has long dedicated itself to the impact on the human intestinal microbiota ofsupplements, foods and drugs based on probiotics and prebiotics.
During the Symposium the Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology Liangkun Ma, of Peking Union MedicalCollege Hospital in Beijing (China), who treated the correlation between alimentation and intestinalmicrobiota in pregnancy, and the importance of practices such as yoga and music therapy, with a strongaction on the psychological and physical well-being of mothers.
Prof. Gwang Pyo Ko, Director of the Center for the Study of Human and Environmental Microbiota at SeoulNational University (Korea), presented his research on the effect of microbiota on health, citing metabolicsyndromes and chronic inflammation of the bladder and of the gut of women; Prof. Ko's team has developedand identified the microbiological molecular markers through innovative sequencing techniques, alsoevaluating the functional roles of the specific microorganism and its metabolites in relation to the targetdiseases.
The first International Symposium was a significant event, as for the first time in Italy and in Europe a centerwas created that deals with the health of women at 360 degrees, making use of a partnership that is in factone of the excellent care and scientific excellence in Italy, the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome.
The assistance of pregnant women and post-partum becomes a theme of discussion between differentworlds that, if put in a position to dialogue with each other, can lay the groundwork for important turns inthe field of assistance, welfare and therapies.
Postpartum care is a recognized concept that has been used in Korea for hundreds of years, thanks to Easternphilosophy practices and mother's health care recommendations that have become a discipline withtherapeutic activity based on academic studies.
The establishment in 2009 of the first post-partum center has given rise to the birth of the most authoritativeand well-equipped Centre Ofmom where all these concepts, modernized and adapted to the lifestyle oftoday, have achieved great results.