Abstract
Although Bifidobacterium bifidum expresses lactase activity, no clinical trials have determined its impact on lactose-intolerant subjects. This study evaluated whether acute and chronic ingestion of ice creams containing B. bifidum 900791 at high (107 CFU/g) or low (105 CFU/g) concentrations improved lactose tolerance in hypolactasic subjects. Fifty subjects were selected based on a positive lactose (20 g) hydrogen breath test (HBT0) and the presence of digestive symptoms. The recruited subjects were required to perform breath tests after the acute ingestion of: (1) ice cream containing 20 g of lactose without a probiotic (HBT1); (2) the same ice cream, accompanied by a lactase tablet (HBT2); (3) the same ice cream containing the low or high dose of probiotic (HBT3-LD and HBT3-HD); and (4) after the chronic consumption of the ice cream without (placebo) or with the low concentration of probiotic for 1 month (HBT4). Significant decreases in H2 excretion during HBT2 and HBT3-HD as well as digestive symptoms during HBT2, HBT3-HD and HBT3-LD were observed compared to HBT0 and HBT1, while the orocecal transit time increased. Chronic consumption of the probiotic ice cream did not enhance lactose tolerance compared to the placebo. These results suggest that the acute ingestion of ice cream containing high or low concentrations of B. bifidum 900791 improves lactose tolerance in hypolactasic subjects.
Highlights
Milk is an important source of highly bioavailable calcium as well as protein of good nutritional quality
Forty-five subjects were randomized into two groups to receive the probiotic-containing ice cream or the placebo ice cream for one month
Ice creams are currently considered a good support for probiotic strains, and Lactobacillus spp. and Bifidobacterium spp., including B. bifidum, have shown good survival and maintain their ability to resist gastrointestinal conditions when added to this dietary matrix [16,17]
Summary
Milk is an important source of highly bioavailable calcium as well as protein of good nutritional quality. Primary hypolactasia is due to epigenetic events that result in the methylation of cytosine residues in the promoter area of the lactase gene. The remaining 25% of the world adult population is “lactase persistent”, i.e., adult intestinal lactase persists in these individuals in values similar to those of newborns. This phenomenon is due to specific mutations (single-base polymorphisms) which appeared in the human genome during the Neolithic age, the period in which human sedentarization, the domestication of cows, goats and sheep, and the beginning of dairy farming occurred [5]. Different mutations, which appeared at the same time in geographically distant populations (Northern Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, India and China) have been described, The presence of these mutations prevents the modification of cytosines, allowing the persistence of lactase gene expression throughout an individual’s entire life
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