Abstract
BackgroundElderly have increased susceptibility to infections that is associated with decline in cellular immune function. Limited clinical data suggests that probiotic bacteria could have potential for improving polymorphonuclear (PMN) cell phagocytic activity or natural killer (NK) cell tumoricidal activity in the elderly. One of the probiotics having clinical documentation in this area is Bifidobacterium animalis ssp. lactis HN019 (HN019).ObjectiveTo determine the efficacy of HN019 supplementation on PMN cell phagocytic activity or NK cell tumoricidal activity in healthy elderly.MethodsWe searched MEDLINE and EMBASE databases, in addition to Directory of Open Access Journals, Google Scholar, and the reference lists of included papers and relevant meta‐analyses in June 2016 for randomized/non‐randomized controlled studies reporting PMN cell phagocytosis activity or NK cell tumoricidal activity following HN019 consumption in healthy elderly. A random effects meta‐analysis was conducted and the pooled standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) comparing HN019 to control was calculated for each outcome. SMD values of 0.2, 0.5, 0.8, and 1.0 were defined as small, medium, large, and very large effect sizes, respectively.ResultsOut of 85 records that were reviewed, 4 studies were included in the final analysis. Subjects in the studies were healthy elderly with a median age between 60 and 70 years. The intervention times ranged from 3 to 6 weeks, during which the subjects consumed low fat milk, daily, with or without HN019 (5×109 to 3×1011 colony forming units (cfu)/day). HN019 supplementation with all the doses was highly efficacious in increasing PMN phagocytic capacity with an SMD of 0.74 (95% CI: 0.38 to 1.11, p<0.001) and with doses ranging from 5×109–1010 cfu/day moderately efficacious in increasing NK cell tumoricidal activity with an SMD of 0.43 (95% CI: 0.08 to 0.78, p=0.02).ConclusionDaily consumption of Bifidobacterium lactis HN019 enhances NK cell tumoricidal activity and PMN phagocytic capacity in healthy elderly adults.Support or Funding InformationStudy was funded by DuPont Nutrition & Health, Kantvik, Finland
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