In a previous study, lactic acid bacteria were isolated from meconium obtained from healthy neonates born by cesarean section. Such a finding suggested that term fetuses are not completely sterile, and that a mother-to-child efflux of commensal bacteria may exist. Therefore, presence of such bacteria in umbilical cord blood of healthy neonates born by elective cesarean section was investigated. The blood samples were submitted to an enrichment step and then inoculated onto agar plates. All the identified isolates belonged to the genus Enterococcus, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, or Propionibacterium. Later, a group of pregnant mice were orally inoculated with a genetically labeled E. faecium strain previously isolated from breast milk of a healthy woman. The labeled strain could be isolated and polymerase chain reaction detected from the amniotic fluid of the inoculated animals. In contrast, it could not be detected in the samples obtained from a noninoculated control group.

Almonds are known to have a number of nutritional benefits, including cholesterol-lowering effects and protection against diabetes. They are also a good source of minerals and vitamin E, associated with promoting health and reducing the risk for chronic disease. For this study we investigated the potential prebiotic effect of almond seeds in vitro by using mixed fecal bacterial cultures. Two almond products, finely ground almonds (FG) and defatted finely ground almonds (DG), were subjected to a combined model of the gastrointestinal tract which included in vitro gastric and duodenal digestion, and the resulting fractions were subsequently used as substrates for the colonic model to assess their influence on the composition and metabolic activity of gut bacteria populations. FG significantly increased the populations of bifidobacteria and Eubacterium rectale, resulting in a higher prebiotic index (4.43) than was found for the commercial prebiotic fructooligosaccharides (4.08) at 24 h of incubation. No significant differences in the proportions of gut bacteria groups were detected in response to DG. The increase in the numbers of Eubacterium rectale during fermentation of FG correlated with increased butyrate production. In conclusion, we have shown that the addition of FG altered the composition of gut bacteria by stimulating the growth of bifidobacteria and Eubacterium rectale.Functional foods are known as dietary components that may cause physiological effects on the consumer, leading to justifiable claims of health benefits (36). According to the European consensus document "Scientific concepts of functional foods," a food ingredient may be regarded as functional if it beneficially affects one or more target functions in the body, beyond its nutritional effects, in order to improve the state of health and/or reduce the risk of disease (9). A prebiotic is defined as "a nondigestible food ingredient which beneficially affects the host by selectively stimulating the growth and/or activity of one or a limited number of bacteria in the colon and thus improving host health" (15). Prebiotics of proven efficacy are able to modulate the gut microbiota by stimulating indigenous beneficial flora while inhibiting the growth of pathogenic bacteria, such as proteolytic bacteroides and clostridia (43). Bifidobacteria and lactobacilli are able to inhibit the growth of clostridia and pathogenic Enterobacteriaceae by the production of shortchain fatty acids and antimicrobial compounds, as well as by competition for growth substrate and adhesion sites (16,19,23). As such, these beneficial gut bacteria, together with mucins and antimicrobial peptides, represent part of the host's front line of defense against harmful microorganisms (24, 40). In order to be effective as a prebiotic, an ingredient must neither be hydrolyzed nor absorbed in the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). Although any dietary material that enters the large intestine can be considered as potentially prebiotic, currently the best-known prebiotics a...

The composition and metabolic activity of the human gut bacteria can indirectly impact on the potential chemopreventive effects of GSL-derived metabolites.

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