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

Food and Nutrition Sciences, 2012, 3, 1615-1618 1615 /10.4236/fns.2012.312211 Published Online December 2012 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/fns) Effects of Fructooligofructoses Chain Length on the Bifidobacteria of the Human Colon: A Pilot Study Krista Mendlik, Julie A. Albrecht, Marilynn Schnepf Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA. Email: jalbrecht1@ Received August 24 , 2012; revised October 31 , 2012; accepted November 7 , 2012 th st th ABSTRACT Human gastrointestinal health may be improved by the consumption of prebiotic food ingredients such as fructooli- gofructoses. A study was initiated to determine the effect of fructooligofructoses of different chain lengths on gastroin- testinal 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 × 10 ± 4.7 × 10 ) 8 8 and washout periods (2.9 × 10 ± 6.5 × 10 and 1.1 × 10 ± 1.6 × 10 ) than baseline counts (2.2 × 10 5 2.9 × 10 ± 6.5 × 10 ), respectively. Inulin and oligofructose treatment periods had a significant effect on stool consis- 7 ± 4.8 × 10 7 and 2.0 × 10 ± 5.1 × 10 and 6 6 7 7 5 6 6 tency (watery/very hard) and flatulence frequency, but not stool frequency, when compared to baseline (P 0.05). Fur- ther research is needed to confirm these