title: Dietary fructooligosaccharides alter the cultivable faecal population of rats but do not stimulate the growth of intestinal bifidobacteria.
abstract: The effect of fructans on the cultivable faecal community of Bio Breeding rats fed diets containing 5% (m/v) food-grade fructooligosaccharide (FOS) was investigated. Culturing of faecal material using chicory inulin as the sole carbohydrate source revealed the presence of a greater diversity of inulin-utilizing bacterial species in FOS-fed rats as compared with the control rats, although both contained species which effectively utilized inulin. The majority of cultivable inulin-utilizing species fell within the Clostridium coccoides group and Clostridium leptum subgroup, some of which were related to previously cultured butyrate-producing bacteria from the intestines of various animals. The impact of FOS on the growth of the indigenous bifidobacteria community and three inulin-utilizing isolates was assessed using real-time polymerase chain reaction. While dietary FOS was found to stimulate the growth of all three inulin-utilizing isolates, no growth stimulation of the indigenous bifidobacteria community occurred over the duration of the feeding trial.
authors.affiliation: Bureau of Nutritional Research, Food Directorate, Health Products and Foods Branch, Health Canada, Banting Research Centre, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gourgue-Jeannot
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Kalmokoff
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kheradpir
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kwan
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Lampi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: McAllister
authors.forename: S P J
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Brooks
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001644:Bifidobacterium / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018651:Cichorium intybus / Q000378:metabolism; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003470:Culture Media / Q000737:chemistry; D004032:Diet; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004063:Digestion; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D006094:Gram-Positive Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007422:Intestines / Q000382:microbiology*; D007444:Inulin / Q000378:metabolism; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000378:metabolism*; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D011913:Rats, Inbred BB; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D009844:Oligosaccharides; C116580:fructooligosaccharide; D007444:Inulin