Effect of synbiotics on intestinal microflora and digestive enzyme activities in rats

Table 1 The composition of synbiotics powder¹

	Amount/7.5 g
Thiamin (as thiamin hydrochloride)	0.375 mg
Riboflavin	0.425 mg
Niacin (as niacinamide)	5 mg
Vitamin B6 (as pyridoxine hydrochloride)	0.5 mg
Folate (as folic acid)	100 μg
Vitamin B12 (as cyanocobalamin)	1.57 μg
Biotin	75 μg
Pantothenic acid (as d-calcium pantothenate)	2.5 mg
Inulin from chicory, powdered extract (root)	250 mg
Proprietary blend culture count	10 billion2
Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus	2.7 billion
Bifidobacterium bifidum and Bifidobacterium longum	6.7 billion
Streptococcus thermophilus	0.6 billion

¹ FloraGuard^®, Viva Life Science, Costa Mesa, CA, USA.

² The viable count of each bacterium in powder was checked once a week.

Table 2 Effect of synbiotics on feed intake in rats¹

Wk	Control (g)	Low dose (g)	High dose (g)
1	19.9±0.6	19.4±1.7	19.8±0.7
2	20.0±0.1	19.6±1.4	19.9±0.2
3	19.9±0.4	19.9±0.2	19.9±0.2
4	18.5±1.5	18.1±0.1	18.9±0.2
5	19.9±0.3	19.9±0.3	20.0±0.4
6	19.9±0.1	19.8±0.4	19.8±0.5
7	20.0±0.1	20.0±0.1	19.8±0.8
8	19.9±0.3	20.0±0.3	19.4±0.3

¹Mean±SD of 16 rats for each group. Mean in a horizontal row with a same superscript letter is not significantly different by one way ANOVA.

Table 3 Effect of synbiotics on intestinal microorganisms in rats¹

	Control	Low dose	High dose
Total anaerobic bacteria counts (log CFU/g)	9.26±0.30	8.95±0.37	8.95±0.18
Lactobacillus (log CFU2 /g)	7.42±0.44	9.35±0.64a	9.41±0.55c
Bifidobacteria (log CFU/g)	8.52±0.59	9.60±0.26e	9.40±0.39g
Coliform organisms (log CFU/g)	8.44±0.74	6.70±0.57	7.13±0.51

¹Mean±SD of 16 rats for each group.

^aP<0.05 vs control,

^cP<0.05 vs control,

^eP<0.05 vs control,

^gP<0.05 vs control.

²CFU: colony forming unit.