Genetically engineered 'friendly bacteria' combined with a sugary drink could prove to be a powerful new treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), according to scientists at the Institute of Food Research (IFR).

When exposed to xylan, a prebiotic polysaccharide found in tree bark and extensively used in Japanese foods, the bacterium (Bacteroides ovatus) activates a beneficial protein that is delivered directly to damaged cells that line the gut of IBD sufferers - reducing inflammation and accelerating healing.

"This is the first time that anyone has been able to control a therapeutic protein in a living system using something that can be eaten," said professor Simon Carding, from the IFR and the University of East Anglia Medical School. "Once our beneficial bugs are in the colon they could be activated when they are needed."

The treatment had a significant therapeutic effect in animal studies, reducing rectal bleeding, accelerating the healing of the gut lining, and reducing inflammation, said Harding.

"We are now applying for funding to try out the bug in humans," said Dr Zaed Hamady, a Medical Research Council (MRC) research fellow at Leeds University. The work was funded by the MRC, the Royal College of Surgeons, and technology transfer firm Techtran.