The effect of a daily oral intake of L-sorbose during 14 days on human fecal flora and pH value, and the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) from L-sorbose by intestinal microorganisms using the fecal suspension incubation were determined. The results in the present study were as follows: (1) No marked changes of fecal flora of six volunteers could be observed.(2) No marked changes were observed on the fecal pH value.(3) The amount of the SCFAs in the L-sorbose supplementation was 8 %, and was significantly lower compared with 46 % in the sucrose supplementation (SUS).(4) No sucrose was detected in SUS after the incubation, and the residual amount of L-sorbose before and after the continuous oral intake was 76 % and 58 %, respectively. These findings indicate that a daily oral intake of L-sorbose does not change the human fecal flora at the bacterial species levels and that L-sorbose is less fermentable by fecal microorganisms compared with sucrose.

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We investigated the effects of a three-week intake of soybean oligosaccharides extract [SOE; involving 32 percent SOR (75 percent stachyose and 25 percent raffinose)] 1.5 g, 3.1 g, 6.2 g/day on the fecal microflora in nine healthy volunteers (21-45 yr of age). The results are as follows. 1) The number of Bifidobacterium was significantly increased for both intakes of the SOE 1.5 g (SOR 0.5 g) at 3 weeks and SOE 6.2 g (SOR 2.0 g) at 1 week. 2) The ratio of the number of bifidobacteria to the total bacteria was increased for both intakes of the SOE 1.5 g (SOR 0.5 g) and SOE 6.2 g (SOR 2.0 g). 3) The number of Enterobacteriaceae was significantly increased for the intake of the SOE 6.2 g (SOR 2.0 g) at 3 weeks. Key words: soybean oligosaccharides, Bifidobacterium, intestinal flora, feces

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This study was carried out to evaluate an efficacy of the Bifidobacterium preparation, BIBALANCE^®, which is an enteric coating tablet. The clinical evaluation was made on eight patients with constipation by the crossover method. There were no significant differences in the clinical efficacy and the number of bifidobacteria between BIBALANCE^® (SMS-109) and the preparation without enteric coating (SMS-NC). However, constipation was more improved during the SMS-109 administration than the SMS-NC administration. The number of bifidobacteria in the stool was also slightly increased during the SMS-109 administration.

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