2007 Volume 18 Issue 1 Pages 31-36
Fifty five healthy subjects (12 men and 43 women, average age 31.6±7.) with constipation tendency were employed to study the effect of a drink-type yogurt supplemented with probiotic strain Bifidobacterium longum BB 536 on defecation, in a placebo-controlled, double-blinded two-way crossover design. After a 2-week run-in period, subjects were randomly allocated to receive BB 536-supplemented yogurt (BB 536 yogurt, containing > 2 × 107 CFU/g of BB 536) or placebo yogurt at 100 g per day for 2 weeks. After a 2-week washout period, subjects were crossed over to another 2-weeks of intake. Either BB 536 yogurt or placebo yogurt contained > 1 × 107 CFU/g lactic acid bacteria. The defecation frequency was significantly increased during the intake stages of either BB 536 yogurt or placebo yogurt compared with non-intake periods (p<0.001). Significant increase was also found by administration of BB 536 yogurt compared with placebo yogurt (p<0.05). No adverse effect was found due to the yogurt intake. These results indicate that the administration of BB 536 yogurt is effective to improve the defecation frequency.
