"That's what we've been working towards," he said.
Dr Dekker, of Palmerston North, yesterday gave a witty and wide-ranging talk on his initial hopes and dreams over probiotics, as well as the realities and his continued optimism for the sector.
A Fonterra platform manager in nutrition and health, he was addressing more than 50 people at the Otago Museum's Hutton Theatre, on the last day of a two-day symposium devoted to "Understanding Human Microbiota", and in honour of Otago University Emeritus Prof Gerald Tannock.
Probiotics were live micro-organisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, conferred a health benefit on the host, he explained.
He joked that when he first began working with probiotics 20 years ago he had envisaged making big discoveries, swiftly followed by overwhelming product popularity and success, and an early retirement on a sunny Pacific Island.
The reality had proved somewhat different, he said.
Nevertheless, he had worked with two probiotic micro-organisms, including HN001, which was found in cheese, and which had shown strongly positive probiotic qualities.
Research had shown that the first micro-organism had had "a great effect", including by strongly reducing cases of gestational diabetes among pregnant women, and the risk of infant eczema, as well as other promising benefits.
Otago researchers had been involved in several of the studies.
There were strong restrictions about what health-related claims could be made for probiotics, and "we understand the need for the rules", but there were also challenges in finding ways to communicate with potential consumers about the value of such products, he said.
Prof Tannock, of the Otago microbiology and immunology department, is an internationally respected researcher on gut micro-organisms.
