Pro-, Pre-, and Synbiotics: Analyzing the Effects of L. acidophilus with Lactulose as a Novel Approach to Weight Control

Overview

Objectives/Goals Human gastrointestinal flora includes probiotics, which are beneficial bacteria that participate in a wide variety of metabolic processes that confer good gastrointestinal health. Prebiotics, nondigestable food ingredients, are used to selectively stimulate the growth and activity of probiotics. The combination of the two is called synbiotics. To address the growing issue of weight control, this research focused on developing a probiotic treatment to induce weight loss in laboratory mice. It was hypothesized that the probiotics will consume glucose in the GI tract to induce weight loss and the efficiency with which it does so will be enhanced by increased dosage and the addition of prebiotics. Methods/Materials Four groups of mice were administered probiotic Lactobacillus acidophilus. Lactulose was used as a prebiotic in conjunction with l. acidophilus to aid probiotic survival in the GI tract. Weight was monitored daily. Additionally, l. acidophilus was cultured in glucose, lactulose, a combination of both, and simulated stomach acid (0.1 M HCl) to determine the viability of the strain in those mediums. Results L. acidophilus flourishes in glucose, lactulose, and a combination of both, covering an area over ten times that of the null treatment control group. Furthermore, the simulated stomach acid culture survived, covering a total area of about a third of that of control. A chi-2 test for significance indicates that these differences are statistically significant. Mice weights show negative correlation for all treatment groups, indicating consistent weight loss. The average weights of mice administered synbiotics showed 60% and 370% greater loss than the control for single and double doses, respectively. Mice administered probiotics displayed similar results. In both treatments, increased dosage increased the rate of weight loss. There is, however, no statistically significant difference in weight lost between probiotic and synbiotic groups administered the same dose. Conclusions/Discussion L. acidophilus's effective metabolization of glucose and survival in simulated stomach acid lent support to the hypothesis that the species can promote weight loss. Though prebiotic lactulose did not lead to greater weight loss, an increased dose of either treatment did. Thus, while synbiotics have no added benefit, probiotics show promise as an effective approach to promoting weight control.

Competition history

• CSEF 2008 Pharmacology/ Toxicology · Entry S1512

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