Fermentation benefits

Probiotic yogurt can help maintain normal microbiota

Probiotic yogurt can help maintain normal microbiota

The role of the microbiota in health and disease development receives more and more attention. It is known that diet, but also probiotics can both influence the intestinal environment. In this study, Odamaki et al. showed that a yogurt, supplemented with a probiotic strain and consumed when following an animal-based diet period, can play a role in maintaining a normal microbiota composition.

200 g a day of yogurt with Bifidobacterium longum

In total, 33 subjects were enrolled in an open, randomized, parallel-group study and allocated into three groups. All of the subjects followed first a five-day period of animal based-diet, and then a balanced diet for 14 days. The first group received each day during both periods (animal-based diet and balanced diet) 200 g of yogurt, supplemented with Bifidobacterium longum; the second group received the yogurt during the balanced-diet period only, and the third group (control) did not ingest yogurt during the experiment. Fecal samples were collected before and after each period.

Microbiota normalization

The analysis showed significant modifications, caused by the animal-based diet in both groups that didn’t received the probiotic yogurt during this period, with some strains increasing in the gut microbiota and other decreasing. But for the group that ate daily the probiotic yogurt during the animal-based diet, except for the Ruminococcus, these changes were not observed. In other ways, this suggests that the consumption of probiotic yogurt, during the ingestion of a meat-based diet, can play a role in maintaining a normal microbiota composition.

To learn more, read the original article.

Source: Odamaki et al., Beneficial Microbes 2016;7:473-484.

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