Probiotic beer to enhance gut health and immune system function.
Probiotic sour beer fermented with Lacticaseibacillus paracasei (PRO) is a novel beverage option which may potentially offer health benefits. In this study, the benefits of PRO are evaluated on the inflammatory, immunity, lipid profile, and gut microbiome of consumers. Twenty-one healthy males participated in a 5-week, participant-blinded, randomized-controlled within-subject crossover study, where participants consumed 330 mL of PRO and normal sour beer (CON) daily for 2-weeks each with a 1-week of washout. Blood and stool samples were collected before and after each intervention. From blood samples, paired t-test analyses indicated no significant differences in the change for cytokines (IFN-?, TNF-a, IL-1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 12) and for white blood cell counts and their subsets tested for both interventions, as well as for triglycerides, total cholesterol, and LDL-cholesterol. However, a significant increase was found in the change in HDL-cholesterol (0.10 mmol/L, 95% CI [0.04, 0.16], p = 0.0019) in PRO. Further research is warranted to explore its HDL-cholesterol increasing potential, particularly in relation to L. paracasei. Gut microbiome analyses from stool samples demonstrated significant increases after CON for phylum Proteobacteria (1.92%, 95% CI [0.79, 3.02], p = 0.003) and genus Bacteroides (3.61%, 95% CI [1.15, 6.07], p = 0.009) and a significant decrease in genus Dialister (-1.08%, 95% CI [-0.35, -1.81], p = 0.009). However, these changes were not observed after PRO. Alpha diversity measures also showed no significant changes. These results demonstrated that PRO had limited effects on gut microbiome, indicating its safety for consumption.