Acute psychological stress is positively associated with a cold/flu. The present randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study examined the effect of three potentially probiotic bacteria on the proportion of healthy days over a 6-week period in academically stressed undergraduate students (n 581) who received Lactobacillus helveticus R0052, Bifidobacterium longum ssp. infantis R0033, Bifid...

BACKGROUND This study evaluated the benefit of Bifidobacterium bifidum OLB6378 (B. bifidum) in very low-birthweight (VLBW) infants (birthweight <1500 g) for the acceleration of enteral feeding. METHODS A cluster-randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted in 19 hospitals, divided into two groups: the B group (n = 10 hospitals; B. bifidum given to infants within 48 h of bi...

Bifidobacterium is a natural inhabitant of the human gastrointestinal (GI) tract. We studied the role of the extracellular sialidase (SiaBb2, 835 amino acids [aa]) from Bifidobacterium bifidum ATCC 15696 in mucosal surface adhesion and carbohydrate catabolism. Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) or porcine mucin oligosaccharides as the sole carbon source enhanced B. bifidum growth. This was impa...

BACKGROUND Because of changes in gut physiology, immune system reactivity, and diet, elderly people are more susceptible to gastrointestinal infections than are younger adults. The gut microflora, which provides a natural defense against invading microorganisms, changes in elderly people with the development of potentially damaging bacterial populations, which may lead to alterations in bacteri...

The ability of three known probiotic strains (two lactobacilli and one bifidobacterium) to ferment fructooligosaccharides (FOS) from yacon roots (Smallanthus sonchifolius Poepp. Endl) was compared to commercial FOS in this study. Results indicate that Lactobacillus acidophilus NRRL-1910, Lactobacillus plantarum NRRL B-4496, and Bifidobacterium bifidum ATCC 15696 were able to ferment yacon root ...

This study was conducted to investigate the catabolism and fermentation of caprine milk oligosaccharides (CMO) by selected bifidobacteria isolated from 4 breast-fed infants. Seventeen bifidobacterial isolates consisting of 3 different species (Bifidobacterium breve, Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum and Bifidobacterium bifidum) were investigated. A CMO-enriched fraction (CMOF) (50% oligosacc...

Dendritic cells (DC) play a pivotal regulatory role in activation of both the innate as well as the adaptive immune system by responding to environmental microorganisms. We have previously shown that Lactobacillus acidophilus induces a strong production of the pro-inflammatory and Th1 polarizing cytokine IL-12 in DC, whereas bifidobacteria do not induce IL-12 but inhibit the IL-12 production in...

BACKGROUND The present work was planned to evaluate the antihyperglycemic, lipid-lowering, and antioxidant effect of Lactobacillus casei and Bifidobacterium bifidum in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. METHODS Single daily dose of 1 × 10(7) cfu/ml of L. casei and B. bifidum alone and in combination of both was given to Wistar rats orally by gavaging for 28 days. Glucose tolerance te...

The acquisition and assimilation strategies followed by members of the infant gut microbiota to retrieve nitrogen from the gut lumen are still largely unknown. In particular, no information on these metabolic processes is available regarding bifidobacteria, which are among the first microbial colonizers of the human intestine. Here, evaluation of amino acid auxotrophy and prototrophy of Bifidob...