Effects of Saccharomyces boulardii on fecal short-chain fatty acids and microflora in patients on long-term total enteral nutrition

Table 1 Fecal SCFAs in TEN patients and HVO

		Before treatment Concentration (SEM)	During treatment			After treatment
			Concentration (SEM)	Difference with pre-treatment		Concentration (SEM)	Difference with pre-treatment
				Value(95%CI)	P1		Value95%CI)	P1
Acetate	TEN	69.9 (12.3)	97.9 (25.2)	28.0	0.18	110.3 (24.1)	40.4	0.02
				-6.1 ; 36.2			14.4 ; 71.4
	HVO	71.3 (10.3)	98.4 (29.8)	27.1	0.79	111.5 (17.5)	40.2	0.42
				-13.1 ; 35.6			-7.0 ; 116.0
Propionate	TEN	20.9 (3.7)	26.2 (3.8)	5.3	0.18	26.0 (3.4)	5.1	0.18
				-0.2 ; 12.6			-3.3 ; 14.3
	HVO	22.9 (3.0)	18.4 (2.4)	-4.5	0.3	23.0 (2.7)	0.1	0.12
				-11.8 ; 4.5			-3.1 ; 6.9
Butyrate	TEN	10.1 (2.9)	16.0 (4.4)	5.8	0.004	12.9 (2.5)	2.7	0.51
				0.1 ; 12.3			-3.9 ; 12.3
	HVO	19.2 (3.9)	16.4 (3.3)	-2.7	0.61	23.3 (3.1)	4.1	0.12
				-9.7 ; 5.6			-1.4 ; 16.3

Values in mmol/kg of wet feces: mean (SE); TEN: total enteral nutrition, HVO: healthy volunteers. ¹Probability of sign test.

Table 2 Fecal bacterial populations in TEN patients and HVO

		Before treatmentConcentration	During treatmentConcentration	After treatmentConcentration
Total bacteria	TEN	9.64 (.31)	9.31 (.41)	9.54 (.36)
(logCFU/g)	HVO	9.53 (.16)	9.56 (.21)	9.20 (.19)
Anaerobes	TEN	8.25 (1.01)	7.72 (.76)	8.63 (.62)
(logCFU/g)	HVO	9.47 (.16)	8.73 (.45)	8.97 (.25)
Aerobes	TEN	8.84 (.26)	8.83 (.34)	8.71 (.32)
(logCFU/g)	HVO	7.63 (.22)	7.63 (.24)	7.61 (.26)
Anaerobes/Aerobes ratio	TEN	2.42 (2.28)	0.51 (2.23)	2.89 (2.43)
	HVO	69.81 (1.81)	60.13 (2.47)	23.02 (2.01)

Mean (SE). TEN, total enteral nutrition; HVO, healthy volunteers. No significant difference.