BACKGROUND Berberine is one of the most important examples of a Chinese traditional medicine that has hypoglycemic effects but there have been no randomized controlled trials of the drug in a larger sample. In addition, the use of probiotic biotherapy to maintain an appropriate intestinal flora may represent an effective early intervention for hyperglycemia. Unfortunately, there has been a shor...

The bifidogenic effect of an infant formula supplemented with inulin and fructooligosaccharides (4.0 g/l) was examined clinically and in vitro, and compared that of mature breast milk. In a 28-day clinical study, fecal samples of 21 infants, divided into two groups: one receiving the infant formula and the other breast milk, were microbiologically and biochemically examined. In the in vitro inv...

The present study was undertaken to determine the prebiotic efficacy of gum arabic upon consumption by man for up to 4 weeks and, if any, to establish the dose-effect relationship. Human healthy volunteers consumed various daily doses (5, 10, 20, 40 g) of gum arabic (EmulGold) in water for up to 4 weeks. Daily consumption of water was taken as the negative control and that of 10 g inulin as the...

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is caused by accumulation of unfolded and misfolded proteins in the ER, thereby compromising its vital cellular functions in protein production and secretion. Genome wide association studies in humans as well as experimental animal models linked ER stress in intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) with intestinal disorders including inflammatory bowel diseases. Howe...

Adaptation to and tolerance of bile stress are among the main limiting factors to ensure survival of bifidobacteria in the intestinal environment of humans. The effect of bile salts on protein expression patterns of Bifidobacterium longum was examined. Protein pattern comparison of strains grown with or without bile extract allowed us to identify 34 different proteins whose expression was regul...

This study investigated the potential utilization of lacto-N-biose I (LNB) by individual strains of bifidobacteria. LNB is a building block for the human milk oligosaccharides, which have been suggested to be a factor for selective growth of bifidobacteria. A total of 208 strains comprising 10 species and 4 subspecies were analyzed for the presence of the galacto-N-biose/lacto-N-biose I phospho...

Flavonols and flavanones are polyphenols exerting many healthy biological activities. They are often glycosylated by rutinose, which hampers absorption in the small intestine. Therefore they require the gut microbiota to release the aglycone and enable colonic absorption. The role of the gut microbiota and bifidobacteria in the release of the aglycones from two major rutinosides, hesperidin and...

The partial enzymatic hydrolysis of chicory inulin (GFn; 2 < or =n < or =60) yields an oligofructose preparation that is composed of both GFn-type and Fn-type oligosaccharides (2 < or =n < or =7; 2 < or =m < or =7), where G is glucose, F is fructose, and n is the number of beta(2-->1) bound fructose moieties. Human studies have shown that feeding GFn-type oligomers significantly modifies the co...

It is recognised that ageing induces various changes to the human colonic microbiota. Most relevant is a reduction in bifidobacteria, which is a health-positive genus. Prebiotics, such as galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS), are dietary ingredients that selectively fortify beneficial gut microbial groups. Therefore, they have the potential to reverse the age-related decline in bifidobacteria and mod...