Effects of Fructooligofructoses Chain Length on the Bifidobacteria of the Human Colon: A Pilot Study

Human gastrointestinal health may be improved by the consumption of prebiotic food ingredients such as fructooligo-fructoses. A study was initiated to determine the effect of fructooligofructoses of different chain lengths on gastrointes-tinal parameters. Nineteen healthy subjects aged 20 - 57 y took part in a 10-week cross-over designed study. Subjects consumed either inulin or oligofructose for 3 weeks followed by a 2-week washout period between treatments. Stool samples were collected five times (baseline, 2 treatments, 2 washout) and analyzed for bifidobacteria. Daily records were kept for stool frequency, stool consistency and flatulence frequency. Bifidobacteria counts (cfu/ml) were higher (trending toward significance) during inulin and oligofructose intakes (1.2 × 107 ± 4.8 × 107 and 2.0 × 108 ± 4.7 × 108) and washout periods (2.9 × 106 ± 6.5 × 106 and 1.1 × 107 ± 1.6 × 107) than baseline counts (2.2 × 105 ± 5.1 × 105 and 2.9 × 106 ± 6.5 × 106), respectively. Inulin and oligofructose treatment periods had a significant effect on stool consistency (watery/very hard) and flatulence frequency, but not stool frequency, when compared to baseline (P < 0.05). Further research is needed to confirm these results due to small sample size and the need for a longer washout period between treatments.

Effect of oligofructose on resistance to postoperative high-fat diet-induced damage of metabolism in diabetic rats after sleeve gastrectomy

BACKGROUND Sleeve gastrectomy(SG) can induce prominent remission of type 2 diabetes mellitus.However,the long-term remission rate of diabetes usually decreases over time.Oligofructose has been verified to modulate host metabolism.The aim of this study was to explore the protective effect of oligofructose on high-fat diet(HFD)-induced metabolic dysfunction after SG.AIM To study the effect and mechanism of oligofructose on diabetic remission in diabetic rats after SG.METHODS SG and SHAM operation were performed on diabetes rats induced with an HFD,nicotinamide,and low-dose streptozotocin.Then the rats in the SHAM and SG groups were continuously provided with the HFD,and the rats in sleeve gastrectomy-oligofructose group were provided with a specific HFD containing10% oligofructose.Body weight,calorie intake,oral glucose tolerance test,homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance,lipid profile,serum insulin,glucagon-like peptide 1(GLP-1),total bile acids,lipopolysaccharide(LPS),and colonic microbiota levels were determined and compared at the designated time points.All statistical analyses were performed using Statistic Package for Social Science version 19.0(IBM,United States),and the statistically significant difference was considered at P <0.05.RESULTS At 2 wk after surgery,rats that underwent SG exhibited improved indexes of glucose and lipid metabolism.Compared with the SG group,the rats from SGoligofructose group exhibited better parameters of glucose and lipid metabolism,lower body weight(526.86±21.51 vs 469.25±21.84,P <0.001),calorie intake(152.14±9.48 vs 129.63±8.99,P <0.001),homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance(4.32±0.57 vs 3.46±0.52,P <0.05),and LPS levels(0.19±0.01 vs 0.16±0.01,P <0.05),and higher levels of insulin(1.17±0.17 vs 1.58±0.16,P <0.001) and GLP-1(12.39±1.67 vs 14.94±1.86,P <0.001),and relative abundances of Bifidobacterium(0.0034±0.0014 vs 0.0343±0.0064,P <0.001),Lactobacillus(0.0161±0.0037 vs 0.0357±0.0047,P <0.001),and Akkermansia muciniphila(0.0050±0.0024 vs 0.0507±0.0100,P <0.001) at the end of the study.However,no difference in total bile acids levels was observed between the two groups.CONCLUSION Oligofructose partially prevents HFD-induced glucose and lipid metabolism damage after SG,which may be due to the changes of calorie intake,insulin,GLP-1,LPS,and the gut microbiota in rats.

Production and Sensory Evaluation of Novel Cheeses Made with Prebiotic Substances:Inulin and Oligofructose

In recent years, the processing and consumption of functional foods worldwide have greatly increased. These foods benefit the body functions which improve consumers’ health and also reduce the risk factors that cause the onset of disease. Furthermore, prebiotic substances favor the multiplication of beneficial intestinal bacteria rather than harmful ones. The purpose of this study was to conduct the sensory evaluation of two functional cheeses containing inulin and oligofructose as a distinctive ingredient, including testing a cheese made with conventional ingredients, called control cheese. Affective type tests, which measured the degree of liking or disliking, were conducted using a verbal 7-point hedonic scale. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 57 untrained judges were selected. This study is a quantitative, analytic and experimental-cross design. Statistical analysis of the data was performed by ANOVA with repeated measures. The results show a similar average degree of liking for the three cheeses, above 5 on the scale or “like”. By analyzing the critical level and the result of the Mauchly’s sphericity test, it is concluded that there is no statistically significant difference in the degree of liking for the three cheeses. Therefore, the addition of prebiotics to artisanal cheeses achieves to satisfy consumers and provide them benefits superior to those provided by traditional foods.