New study suggests high-dose, multi-strain formulations have more stable colonization of the gut
A clinical trial recently published in Nutrients studied the effect of bacterial count on the transient colonization in the human intestinal tract of a formulation containing four probiotic strains at two doses, 7 billion and 70 billion colony forming units (CFUs).
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A clinical trial recently published in Nutrients1 studied the effect of bacterial count on the transient colonization in the human intestinal tract of a formulation containing four probiotic strains at two doses, 7 billion and 70 billion colony forming units (CFUs). The four strains in the formulation, manufactured by DuPont (Kantvik, Finland), were Bifidobacterium lactis Bl-04, Lactobacillus acidophilus La-14, Lactobacillus plantarum SDZ-11, and Lactobacillus paracasei SDZ-22.
In the single-blind, two-arm parallel microbiological pilot study, 40 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 60 were randomly assigned to receive either the 7 billion CFU dose or 70 billion CFU dose, once a day for two weeks. The two weeks of supplementation were then followed by two weeks of follow up. During the entire duration of the study, subjects followed their usual diets, and collected a total of 19 fecal samples, which were then tested for probiotic recovery.
Results showed that the high dose formulation of 70 billion CFUs had earlier detection compared to the low dose group, and on the last day of supplementation, viable cells of all the probiotic strains were recovered from all subjects taking the 70 billion CFU formulation, while recovery of all the strains was not possible in five subjects taking the 7 billion CFU dose. During the two-week follow up period, viable recovery was also significantly higher and detectable longer in the high dose group.
“Higher doses of probiotics result in higher levels of fecal recovery; this has been shown before. What is fascinating with the Taverniti study is they show a higher dose also leads to an earlier and longer detection of the consumed probiotics; suggesting a more stable ‘colonization’. This begs the question if a higher probiotic dose also leads to earlier and more reliable health benefits,” stated Arthur Ouwehand, PhD, technical fellow, DuPont Nutrition & Health, in a press release.
References:
- Taverniti, V et al. “Effect of cell concentration on the persistence in the human intestine of four probiotic strains administered through a multispecies formulation.” Nutrients, vol. 11, no. 2 (2019): 285
