Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
specific properties, which have to be evaluated prior to application. Salminen and
Ouwehand with their co-workers isolated and selected probiotics strains
B. longum
2C and 46, which adhere well to intestinal mucus from elderly individuals.
31,32
In
a clinical trial, these strains showed efficacy in normalizing bowel movements of
institutionalized elderly people,
25
modulating the fecal
Bifidobacterium
microbiota
and inducing potentially beneficial immunological changes.
33
In the study by Ahmed
et al.
24
with
B. lactis
HN019, an increase of fecal bifidobacteria, lactobacilli, and
enterococci and a decrease of enterobacteria were observed showing the potential of
probiotics to counteract the age-related microbiota changes. Recently, prevention of
antibiotic- and
Clostridium dificile-
associated diarrhea by consumption of a yogurt
drink containing
L. casei
DN-114001,
Streptococcus thermophilus,
and
L. bulgari-
cus
(undefined strains) was demonstrated in elderly hospitalized patients.
27
Likewise,
the intake of
L. acidophilus
and
B. bifidum
(undefined strains) in capsules reduced
the incidence of
C. difficile
-associated diarrhea in elderly people receiving antibiot-
ics.
34
Previously, the treatment of relapsing
C. difficile
diarrhea with
L. rhamnosus
GG has been reported.
35
Beneficial microbiota modification in elderly individuals
and efficacy in reducing the extent of microbiota disruption due to antibiotic treat-
ment has been obtained with several probiotics.
36-39
Concerning the immunoenhancing potential of probiotics in elderly people, per-
haps the most convincing data of all have been obtained with the strain
B. lactis
HN019.
40-42
The clinical trials reported that consumption of
B. lactis
HN019 resulted
in stimulation of phagocytic activity of mononuclear cells and natural killer (NK)
cell activity, increased size of T- and NK-cell populations, and enhanced production
of interferon-alpha (IFN-α) from stimulated PBMC in culture. The probiotic strain
L. rhamnosus
HN001 increased polymorphonuclear cell phagocytic activity and
NK-cell activity in elderly subjects.
42,43
Indication of the improvement of the immu-
nological status by probiotics in elderly people in the form of decreased incidence
of infections was recently reported.
26
In a Japanese study, decreased incidence of
infections in response to feeding with
L. johnsonii
La1 was observed in hospitalized,
enterally fed subjects.
An interesting new application of probiotics is the prevention of oral candido-
sis.
28
Hatakka et al.
28
demonstrated that a probiotic cheese containing a mixture of
L.
rhamnosus
GG and Lc705 and
Propionibacterium freudenreichii
JS decreased the
prevalence of high salivary yeast counts in elderly subjects.
28
Taken together, it is apparent that specific probiotics can provide measurable
and clinically relevant benefits to elderly people in counteracting the age-related
changes in gut microbiota, enhancing immunity, and promoting intestinal health.
However, one should bear in mind that probiotic properties are strain specific and
results cannot be extrapolated to apply other strains even if they are of the same or
closely related species.
16.2.3 Efficacy of Prebiotics
Traditionally, prebiotic components have been aimed at fortifying the indige-
nous
Bifidobacterium
microbiota in the intestine. The bifidogenic effect of inulin
