Investigation of the Stool Frequency in Elderly Who are Bed Ridden and its Improvements by Ingesting of Bifidus Yogurt

Abstract

The epidemiological investigation of the stool frequency was performed and the effect of ingesting commercially available bifidus yogurt on bowel movements was studied in 57 elderly with a mean age of 78 years ho were bed ridden. Forty of the 57 patients (70%) had less than one stool every other day and 22 (39%), who were sever constipated, had two or fewer stools weekly. The ingestion of bifidus yogurt for 10 or 20 days did result in a significant increase of stool frequency compared with the slight effects of nonfermented milk. In the case of nine elderly, stool frequency after 10 or 20 days administration of 100ml of bifidus yogurt increased progressively from 5.7±3.3 (mean±SD) to 7. 0±2.5 (p<0.05) and 8.1±1.6 (p<0.01), respectively. Furthermore, similar results were obtained in 10 constipated elderly with laxative use, the values of stool frequency changed from 2.1±0.3 (mean±SD) to 3.8±1. 9 (p<0.05) and 4.4±1.8 (p<0.01) under the same experimental design. To confirm the above observation, we also demonstrated the effectiveness of bifidus yogurt on the improvement of bowel movements in additional 26 elderly.