Modulatory effects of Bifidobacterium longum BB536 on defecation in elderly patients receiving enteral feeding

Table 1 Subject characteristics and daily intake of energy and nutrients

	Group	n	Gender (M/F)	Age (yr)	Total energy (kcal/d)	Protein (g/d)	Lipid (g/d)	Carbohydrates (g/d)	Dietary fiber (g/d)
Trial 1
	Placebo	32	9/23	82.7 ± 9.5	884.7 ± 207.2	37.2 ± 11.6	28.8 ± 9.6	118.8 ± 30.6	10.8 ± 3.5
	BB536-H	34	8/26	85.8 ± 7.3	917.6 ± 162.6	37.5 ± 7.8	30.2 ± 10.3	124.2 ± 22.5	10.3 ± 3.7
Trial 2
	Placebo	32	9/23	83.9 ± 7.5	798.1 ± 176.3	35.1 ± 11.9	24.5 ± 6.1	112.3 ± 31.4	9.6 ± 3.3
	BB536-L	37	9/28	84.4 ± 6.8	845.6 ± 186.9	37.0 ± 10.5	26.6 ± 9.9	118.0 ± 28.6	11.1 ± 4.6
	BB536-H	33	10/23	84.4 ± 10.1	854.8 ± 194.9	37.4 ± 10.7	26.0 ± 8.0	120.1 ± 29.9	10.4 ± 3.7

M: Male; F: Female.

Table 2 Bowel movements during the intervention period

	Subgroups of subjects1	Intervention group	Subjects(n)	Bowel movements (times/wk)					P value2
				Week-1	Weeks 1-4	Weeks 5-8	Weeks 9-12	Weeks 13-16
Trial 1
	Whole	Placebo	34	4.88 ± 2.70	5.18 ± 2.57	5.20 ± 2.58	5.17 ± 2.74	4.8 ± 2.2	0.326
		BB536-H	32	5.53 ± 3.76	6.62 ± 3.83	6.37 ± 3.34	6.04 ± 3.25	6.0 ± 2.8	1.051
	Low	Placebo	19	3.00 ± 0.94	4.07 ± 1.37a	4.25 ± 1.94a	4.07 ± 1.34a	3.87 ± 1.13a	0.002
		BB536-H	14	2.93 ± 0.92	4.41 ± 1.89b	4.32 ± 1.85b	4.79 ± 1.92b	4.82 ± 1.92b	0.001
	Normal	Placebo	12	6.25 ± 1.36	5.46 ± 2.56	5.29 ± 2.07	5.23 ± 2.40	5.21 ± 2.69	0.564
		BB536-H	14	5.79 ± 1.19	7.02 ± 2.84	7.36 ± 3.16	6.27 ± 3.25	6.48 ± 2.7	0.340
	High	Placebo	3	10.50 ± 1.00	11.38 ± 1.77	10.38 ± 0.72	12.5 ± 3.22	8.50 ± 0.58	0.786
		BB536-H	4	13.75 ± 3.77	12.94 ± 4.94	10.06 ± 3.86	9.63 ± 4.75	8.75 ± 4.20a	0.044
Trial 2
	Whole	Placebo	32	5.28 ± 3.34	5.02 ± 2.67	4.78 ± 2.54	4.73 ± 2.80	4.60 ± 2.20	0.563
		BB536-L	37	5.51 ± 4.12	6.10 ± 3.85	5.90 ± 3.43	5.11 ± 2.60	4.90 ± 3.00	0.044
		BB536-H	33	5.91 ± 4.30	6.12 ± 3.89	6.20 ± 3.51	6.30 ± 3.25	5.60 ± 3.80	1.075
	Low	Placebo	20	3.05 ± 0.76	3.73 ± 0.88	3.45 ± 1.05	3.41 ± 1.10	3.63 ± 1.09	0.387
		BB536-L	22	2.64 ± 1.05	3.69 ± 1.22b	3.74 ± 1.42b	3.70 ± 1.54b	3.44 ± 1.32b	0.001
		BB536-H	18	3.00 ± 1.03	3.96 ± 1.33a	4.24 ± 1.89b	4.35 ± 2.09b	3.83 ± 1.44a	0.015
	Normal	Placebo	6	6.83 ± 1.33	4.79 ± 1.16	5.04 ± 1.07	4.88 ± 1.61	4.79 ± 1.42	0.219
		BB536-L	7	7.00 ± 1.29	7.39 ± 3.15	7.86 ± 3.58	6.46 ± 1.81	6.61 ± 2.89	0.842
		BB536-H	8	6.50 ± 1.41	6.66 ± 3.70	7.47 ± 3.50	7.03 ± 3.11	5.66 ± 4.18	1.217
	High	Placebo	6	11.17 ± 0.98	9.54 ± 2.90	8.96 ± 2.54	9.00 ± 3.57	7.92 ± 2.59a	0.149
		BB536-L	8	12.13 ± 2.10	11.59 ± 3.01	10.13 ± 2.12	7.81 ± 2.89b	7.44 ± 4.03b	0.006
		BB536-H	7	12.71 ± 3.68	11.07 ± 4.08	9.79 ± 3.55b	10.46 ± 3.80a	10.25 ± 4.12a	0.040

Values are shown as mean ± SD.

¹Based on the results of bowel movements at week-1. Low, ≤ 4 times; Normal, 59 times; High, ≥ 10 times;

²P values are results of repeated measures ANOVA for analyzing the significance of intragroup changes.

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01 vs week-1.

Table 3 Cell numbers of the dominant Bifidobacterium

Species of Bifidobacterium	Period	mean (log/g) ± SD (prevalence, %)
		Placebo	BB536-L	BB536-H
All Bifidobacterium	Week-1	8.27 ± 1.32 (57.6)	8.68 ± 1.26 (62.2)	8.58 ± 0.94 (36.1)
	Week 16	8.41 ± 1.29 (78.8)a	9.05 ± 0.91 (94.6)bc	8.94 ± 0.75 (94.4)bc
B. longum subsp. longum	Week-1	6.91 ± 0.41 (15.2)	7.40 ± 0.88 (27)	7.29 ± 0.9 (30.6)
	Week 16	7.56 ± 0.94 (39.4)b	8.13 ± 0.74 (94.6)bd	8.26 ± 0.65 (91.7)bd
B. adolescentis	Week-1	ND (0)	ND (0)	10.06 (2.8)
	Week 16	6.64 ± 0.15 (36.4)	6.57 ± 0.21 (24.3)	6.97 ± 1.14 (25)
B. catenulatum	Week-1	11.12 ± 2.24 (9.1)	12.27 ± 3.01 (8.1)	12.88 ± 1.2 (5.6)
	Week 16	9.08 ± 0.36 (6.1)	8.98 ± 0.28 (8.1)	8.74 ± 0.05 (5.6)
B. breve	Week-1	7.91 ± 0.96 (39.4)	8.04 ± 0.87 (48.6)	7.84 ± 0.49 (22.2)
	Week 16	7.77 ± 1.00 (57.6)	8.34 ± 0.84 (48.6)	7.82 ± 0.82 (50.0)b
B. bifidum	Week-1	ND (0)	8.63 (2.7)	ND (0)
	Week 16	9.2 ± 0.66 (6.1)	7.81 ± 1.30 (5.4)	7.44 ± 1.24 (8.3)
B. longum subsp. infantis	Week-1	8.8 ± 0.46 (9.1)	8.00 ± 1.12 (13.5)	8.94 ± 0.05 (8.3)
	Week 16	7.71 ± 1.56 (18.2)	7.91 ± 1.04 (16.2)	8.16 ± 0.97 (25)a
BB536	Week-1	6.42 (3)	6.71 (2.7)	6.92 ± 0.26 (5.6)
	Week 16	6.98 ± 0.77 (24.2)a	7.97 ± 0.70 (89.2)bd	8.13 ± 0.63 (91.7)bd

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01 vs week-1;

^cP < 0.05,

^dP < 0.01 vs placebo group. B. longum: Bifidobacterium longum; B. adolescentis: Bifidobacterium adolescentis; B. catenulatum: Bifidobacterium catenulatum; B. breve: Bifidobacterium breve; B. bifidum: Bifidobacterium bifidum; ND: Not detected (< log 10⁶ cells/g).