This study investigated the digestibility and prebiotic effects of bolo in rats. We prepared bolo-like baked goods using potato starch and also prepared control baked goods using pregelatinized potato starch, wheat starch, or pregelatinized wheat starch. Male SD rats were divided into groups and fed a diet containing one of the four different starches for 14 days. Rats fed the potato starch exhibited significantly higher fecal wet weight, cecal hypertrophy, and lower pH of cecal contents compared to other groups. These results indicate that the potato starch in bolo was abundant in resistant starch. Rats fed the potato starch also exhibited a significant increase of Bifidobacterium genus in the microbiota suggesting that bolo has prebiotic effects.
