Milk fermented with yogurt cultures and Lactobacillus casei compared with yogurt and gelled milk: influence on intestinal microflora in healthy infants.
Ingestion of fermented dairy products induces changes in the equilibrium and metabolism of the intestinal microflora and may thus exert a healthful influence on the host. We compared the effects of consumption of a traditional yogurt, a milk fermented with yogurt cultures and Lactobacillus casei (YC), and a nonfermented gelled milk on the fecal microflora of healthy infants. Thirty-nine infants aged 10-18 mo were randomly assigned to one of three groups in which they received 125 g/d of one of the three products for 1 mo. The following indexes were not modified during the supplementation period or for 1 wk after the end of supplementation: total number of anaerobes, bifidobacteria, bacteroides, and enterobacteria; pH; water content; concentrations of acetate, butyrate, propionate, and lactate; and bacterial enzyme activity of beta-galactosidase and alpha-glucosidase. In contrast, in the yogurt group the number of enterococci in fecal samples increased (P < 0.05), whereas the percentage of branched-chain and long-chain fatty acids, which are markers of proteolytic fermentation, decreased (P < 0.05). In the YC group, the percentage of children with > 6 log10 colony-forming units lactobacilli/g feces increased (P < 0.05), whereas the potentially harmful enzyme activity of beta-glucuronidase and beta-glucosidase decreased (P < 0.05). These decreases were particularly marked in those infants in the YC group in whom activity of the enzymes was initially unusually high.
Guerin-Danan
C
C
Unité d'Ecologie et de Physiologie du Système Digestif, équipe Métabolites Bactériens et Santé, Jouy en Josas, France.
Chabanet
C
C
Pedone
C
C
Popot
F
F
Vaissade
P
P
Bouley
C
C
Szylit
O
O
Andrieux
C
C
D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000254:growth & development; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003611:Dairy Products / Q000382:microbiology*; D005243:Feces / Q000737:chemistry / Q000201:enzymology / Q000382:microbiology; D005285:Fermentation; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005516:Food Microbiology; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007223:Infant; D007225:Infant Food / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000592:standards; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena / Q000502:physiology*; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism; D007422:Intestines / Q000201:enzymology / Q000382:microbiology*; D007780:Lacticaseibacillus casei / Q000378:metabolism; D008892:Milk / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D013997:Time Factors; D014867:Water / Q000032:analysis; D015014:Yogurt / Q000382:microbiology
D014867:Water