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IntroductionWhile modulation of the human adult gut microbiota is a trending strategy to improve health, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood.MethodsThis study aimed to assess the predictive value of the ex vivo, reactor-based, high-throughput SIFR® (Systemic Intestinal Fermentation Research) technology for clinical findings using three structurally different prebiotics [inulin (IN), resistant dextrin (RD) and 2′-fucosyllactose (2′FL)].ResultsThe key finding was that data obtained within 1–2 days were predictive for clinical findings upon repeated prebiotic intake over weeks: among hundreds of microbes, IN stimulated Bifidobacteriaceae, RD boosted Parabacteroides distasonis, while 2′FL specifically increased Bifidobacterium adolescentis and Anaerobutyricum hallii. In line with metabolic capabilities of these taxa, specific SCFA (short-chain fatty acids) were produced thus providing insights that cannot be obtained in vivo where such metabolites are rapidly absorbed. Further, in contrast to using single or pooled fecal microbiota (approaches used to circumvent low throughput of conventional models), working with 6 individual fecal microbiota enabled correlations that support mechanistic insights. Moreover, quantitative sequencing removed the noise caused by markedly increased cell densities upon prebiotic treatment, thus allowing to even rectify conclusions of previous clinical trials related to the tentative selectivity by which prebiotics modulate the gut microbiota. Counterintuitively, not the high but rather the low selectivity of IN caused only a limited number of taxa to be significantly affected. Finally, while a mucosal microbiota (enriched with Lachnospiraceae) can be integrated, other technical aspects of the SIFR® technology are a high technical reproducibility, and most importantly, a sustained similarity between the ex vivo and original in vivo microbiota.DiscussionBy accurately predicting in vivo results within days, the SIFR® technology can help bridge the so-called “Valley of Death” between preclinical and clinical research. Facilitating development of test products with better understanding of their mode of action could dramatically increase success rate of microbiome modulating clinical trials.Graphical Abstract

Constipation is an area of concern in people’s health. Consequently, health care practitioners recommend lifestyle changes including increasing fiber intake and exercise. This study examined the effect of pea hull fiber (PHF) on loperamide-induced constipation in rats. The rats were fed either a vehicle diet or a diet enriched with PHF. The groups were divided into either a saline or loperamide injection to induce sub-acute constipation. Fecal Pellet Output (FPO) was measured for 3 days. In the saline-treated rats, PHF increased wet and dry fecal weights on day 1 and 2, and increased FPO on day 2 compared to the saline-treated rats on the vehicle diet. In the loperamide model, PHF increased FPO, had higher wet and dry fecal weights on day 1 compared to the loperamide-treated vehicle diet rats. Addition of PHF into the diet may help improve intestinal transit in a loperamide-induced constipation rat model.

An imbalance of the gut microbiota ("dysbiosis") is associated with numerous chronic diseases, and its modulation is a promising novel therapeutic approach. Dietary supplementation with soluble fiber is one of several proposed modulation strategies. This study aims at confirming the impact of the resistant dextrin NUTRIOSE (RD), a soluble fiber with demonstrated beneficial health effects, on the gut microbiota of healthy individuals.Fifty healthy women are enrolled and supplemented daily with either RD (n = 24) or a control product (n = 26) during 6 weeks. Characterization of the fecal metagenome with shotgun sequencing reveals that RD intake dramatically increases the abundance of the commensal bacterium Parabacteroides distasonis. Furthermore, presence in metagenomes of accessory genes from P. distasonis, coding for susCD (a starch-binding membrane protein complex) is associated with a greater increase of the species. This suggests that response to RD might be strain-dependent.Supplementation with RD can be used to specifically increase P. distasonis in gut microbiota of healthy women. The magnitude of the response may be associated with fiber-metabolizing capabilities of strains carried by subjects. Further research will seek to confirm that P. distasonis directly modulates the clinical effects observed in other studies.

Introduction:Resistant dextrins are glucose polymers with atypical linkages making them non-digestible in the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract. NUTRIOSE® is slightly digested in the small intestine and then, progressively fermented in the colon. The objective of this study is to investigate the beneficial effects resulting from the colonic fermentation of NUTRIOSE® and the underlying mechanism of action in rats.Materials & Methods:This experiment was conducted according to the French Regulations for Animal Experimentation and authorized under the project Number 00619.01. After acclimatisation on maintaining diet, 20 Sprague-Dawley rats were blocked by body weight and randomly split into 2 groups. The control group was given a fibre-free diet where corn starch was used to replace fibre and the experimental group was supplemented with 10% NUTRIOSE®. Feces were collected for enzymatic activities measurement. Caecal contents were collected so as caecal cell walls and colon biopsies for gene expression analysis.Results:The significant increases in caecal content weight (p < 0.001) fecal activity of saccharolytic enzymes (p < 0.05) and the decrease in caecal pH (p < 0.001) after the supplementation of NUTRIOSE® suggested its fermentation in the colon and caecum. It is also known from literature that NUTRIOSE® fermentation leads to higher levels of short chain fatty acids including higher levels of propionate and butyrate. This enhanced fermentation induced several positive impacts in the colon such as an increased caecal wall weight (p < 0.001) demonstrating beneficial effect on colon epithelial cells, an up-regulation of genes involved in membrane integrity (occludin (p = 0.01), ZO-1(p = 0.01)), and a positive impact on genes involved in inflammation (Tnf-α (p = 0.03), FOXP3 (p = 0.01)). The present study demonstrated the positive effects of NUTRIOSE® supplementation on glucose metabolism through the up-regulation of PEPCK in the colon (p < 0.001). This effect may also be mediated by the up-regulation of the GPR41 receptor in the colon (p < 0.001) and probably activated by butyrate.Conclusions:All together, these results confirmed that NUTRIOSE® is well fermented in the colon and that these fermentations may be associated with beneficial impacts on colonic epithelial integrity, inflammation and neoglucogenesis. Here we demonstrate a putative mechanism of action of NUTRIOSE® to improve the colonic health which is through the production of butyrate and the resulting activation of GPR41 receptor. Thus, this study helps us to understand the physiological impact of NUTRIOSE® fermentation in colon to produce several health benefits as observed in clinical studies.

There is a very high prevalence of diabetes in India today which is increasing on a North to South axis. In addition to lifestyle changes, Indian people may be more susceptible to insulin resistance. Observational studies suggest that the consumption of diets with a low glycemic impact is associated with a reduced risk of diabetes. Maltitol is a bulk sweetener belonging to the polyols family and exhibiting a low glycemic response (GR). Genetic background has already been mentioned as an influent factor in modulating the GR of various foods. So, assessing glucose homeostasis including glycemic and insulinemic responses (IR) after maltitol consumption in Indians may be helpful in gaining a better understanding of this result from a physiological standpoint. The objective of this clinical study was to evaluate the GR and IR of maltitol in healthy Indian volunteers. The protocol followed Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recommendations. After an overnight fast, GR and IR of maltitol and reference (glucose) were measured on 12 subjects (50 g dissolved in 150 ml of mineral water). Glucose tolerance was assessed both before and after testing, the subjects being randomly allocated either to the maltitol or the glucose groups. Both glucose and insulin plasma concentrations were assessed in venous blood. Mean blood glucose levels were significantly lower after the consumption of maltitol compared with glucose from time points 15 to 90 min. GR of maltitol was found to be 20.4 ± 9.3 % of glucose GR. After maltitol consumption, the mean insulin blood levels were significantly lower from time points 15 to 120 min compared with the reference subjects. IR of maltitol was found to be 17.8 ± 9.9 % of glucose IR. We confirmed that the maltitol GR in healthy Indians is low. Moreover, maltitol displays a very low insulinemic response which may be of interest for diabetics in India.

Background: Sugar alcohols such as xylitol are incorporated in a number of oral hygiene products for their anti-cariogenic properties while chewing gum is known to be beneficial to oral hygiene. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the composition of the dental plaque microbiota in patients with active caries before and after using a chewing gum supplemented with maltitol. Design: Forty subjects with active caries were randomly allocated to chew maltitol gum or gum base for two weeks. A healthy control group used gum base for two weeks. Plaque samples were collected before and after treatment and the microbiota analysed by pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes. Results: A total of 773,547 sequences were obtained from 117 samples. There was no difference in structure of the bacterial communities between groups (AMOVA). There was a significant difference in community membership between groups, (AMOVA, p=0.009). There was a significant difference between the control group after treatment and the maltitol patient group after treatment (p

Prebiotic-like effects of maltitol were investigated supplementing two groups of rats with either 5% maltodextrin (control group) or 5% maltitol (maltitol group). A third group was supplemented with 5% maltitol at first and then with 5% maltodextrin (maltitol/maltodextrin group). Faecal parameters were monitored throughout the experiment and caecal parameters at the end. The weights of caecal content and caecal wall were significantly higher in the maltitol group than in the control group, but not in the maltitol/maltodextrin group. Propionic acid concentration was significantly higher in the maltitol group compared to both control and maltitol/maltodextrin group. Faecal parameters were also influenced by the dietary supplementation with maltitol: the amount of dry matter in feces decreased and alpha-glucosidase activity increased. These effects lasted 28 days in the maltitol only group, whereas they stopped some days after the switch to maltodextrin in the maltitol/maltodextrin group. Maltitol could induce prebiotic-like effects.

Introduction Polyols are molecules of interest for food industries because of their technological and nutritional properties. Maltitol is known for its non-acidogenic and low-energetic properties. Our primary objective was to evaluate the digestive tolerance of maltitol in children. The secondary objective was to compare the organoleptic properties of maltitol and sucrose in chocolate.Method Healthy children were included in a double-blind, randomized parallel study versus placebo. The subjects received one dose of either maltitol or sucrose chocolate per week. Increasing doses were tested from 5 to 15 g maltitol in chocolate. Abdominal pain, rumbling, bloating and flatulence scores were evaluated using visual analog scales.Results Some statistical differences on intestinal parameters were observed in the maltitol group compared with placebo, mainly concerning flatulence scores. Nevertheless, these scores remained low and could be considered minor.Conclusion Our results suggest that maltitol was well tole...

Consumption of a low glycemic index (GI) diet may be helpful in the management and prevention of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The investigation of GI has been predominantly confined to white subjects. We hypothesized that differences in glycemic response (GR) may be observable in subjects of different ethnic origin. The objective of the present study was to determine GR to a high GI (glucose) and low GI (maltitol) test drink in subjects of different ethnic origin. In a randomized, single-blind crossover trial, 10 whites, 10 South Indians and 10 Chinese subjects consumed either glucose or maltitol test drink containing 50 g of one of the test products on different occasions. Capillary blood glucose samples were taken at 15 and 10 minutes before and 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 150, and 180 minutes after consumption of the test drink. The incremental area under the curve of glucose and maltitol were not significantly different between the 3 groups. The mean GR for maltitol was 33.5% in whites, 32.9% in Chinese, and 23.1% in South Indians. The results presented here confirmed that there are no observable differences noted in GR to a high-GI or low-GI test drink between the 3 ethnically diverse groups. We conclude that different ethnic groups exhibit similar GR to low- and high-GI drinks, and GR to maltitol is similar irrespective of ethnic background.

Introduction et but de l’etude Il est etabli que la composition en certains nutriments des œufs varie selon l’alimentation des poules pondeuses. Le profil en acides gras du jaune d’œuf est lie a la nature des lipides ingeres par la poule. Les carotenoides peuvent aussi etre effectivement transferes dans le jaune d’œuf. L’acide docosahexaenoique (DHA) et la luteine sont potentiellement impliques dans la prevention de la degenerescence maculaire liee a l’âge (DMLA). Les microalgues peuvent etre une nouvelle source interessante de ces nutriments. L’objectif de l’etude etait d’evaluer le potentiel de differents types de microalgues pour enrichir le jaune d’œuf en DHA et en luteine. Materiel et methodes Dans cette etude les poules furent nourries pendant 4 semaines soit avec une alimentation temoin (T ; n = 24) basee sur du ble et depourvue de microalgues soit avec 3 alimentations differentes (M1, M2 et M3 n = 24 pour chaque groupe) contenant des microalgues riches en DHA ou en luteine. Les regimes M1, M2 et M3 contenaient 3 % de ROQUETTE Schizochytrium ROQ 428, comme source de DHA. Pour l’enrichissement en luteine 2 souches de ROQUETTE chlorella lyophilisees (ROQ 308 et ROQ 306) furent incorporees (3 %) dans M1 et M2 respectivement. Le regime M3 etait identique au regime M2 excepte le fait que la ROQUETTE chlorella ROQ 306 etait atomisee. Les rations alimentaires experimentales contenaient environ 2600 ± 126 mg/kg de DHA et 70 ± 16 mg/kg de luteine. Resultats et Analyse statistique Les performances zootechniques des poules pondeuses ont ete similaires avec les 4 regimes, excepte pour le poids des œufs qui etait plus eleve avec tous les regimes microalgues comparativement au regime temoin. La couleur des jaunes d’œufs etait significativement plus accentuee avec les regimes microalgues (12,15 – 11,96 et 11,91 avec M1, M2 et M3 vs 6,80 pour les controles sur l’echelle DSM). Durant la derniere semaine experimentale les œufs furent collectes et divises en 3 groupes par regime pour la mesure du DHA et de la luteine. Les œufs contenaient 51,3 ± 1,7 – 165,9 ± 22,3 – 159,1 ± 4,3 et 162,4 ± 13,7 mg de DHA par œuf pour les groupes T, M1, M2 et M3 respectivement et de 0,07 ± 0,02 – 2,03 ± 0,13 – 1,75 ± 0,16 et 1,84 ± 0,28 mg de luteine par œuf. Conclusion Ainsi les microalgues peuvent etre utilisees pour enrichir les jaunes d’œufs de poules en DHA et luteine ce qui pourrait etre benefique pour la prevention de la DMLA.