Effects of Intake of Pickles Containing Lactobacillus brevis on Immune Activity and Bowel Symptoms in Female Students

Abstract

Summary Forty-four female students with a tendency for constipation (mean age, 20.263.3 y) were asked to consume 30 g test pickles daily for 2 wk and were divided into 3 groups: viable-cell intake subjects (n514, 3.0310 5 colony-forming units of viable LAB (lactic acid bacteria) cells per sample), dead-cells intake subjects (n515, viable cells were heat sterilized), and placebo-intake subjects (n515, LAB removed from the pickles). g-Aminobutyric acid content of 75.163.2 mg per sample was noted, with no marked difference between samples containing viable and dead cells. Natural killer (NK)-cell activity (% specific lysis) in serum from dead-cell intake subjects was 37.5617.0% before the start of the test-food intake and 47.7620.1% after intake, indicating statistically significant effects (p,0.01). However, viable-cell intake and placebo intake subjects showed no statistically significant difference. The number of days with bowel movements significantly increased from 3.861.5 to 4.961.8 d in the dead-cell intake group, whereas a slight change from 4.661.5 to 5.161.7 d was observed in the viable-cell intake group. Additionally, the feeling of incomplete evacuation fell and a refreshed feeling increased among the subjects with constipation. Thus, marked enhancement of NK-cell activity and improved bowel symptoms were observed in subjects consuming pickles containing dead LAB cells.

Effects of Resistant Glucan Mixture on Bowel Movement in Female Volunteers

“…In recent years, many people have suffered from constipation because of the stress of daily life and a lack of dietary fi ber related to Western-style foods in Japan (14,15). Constipation not only causes abdominal discomfort, but also increases the risk of colon cancer, given the increased spoilage substances producing harmful bacteria in the intestine and the increased contact time.…”

Identification of Lactobacillus brevis using a species-specific AFLP-derived marker

“…Strains of this species have probiotic potential and some are widely used as starter cultures (Annuk et al, 2003;Gerez et al, 2010;Jeyaram et al, 2010;Mugula et al, 2003;Ramos et al, 2013;Seseña et al, 2005;Takii et al, 2013), as well as for biotechnological purposes (Falck et al, 2013;Guo et al, 2010;Yue et al, 2013;Zhang et al, 2012). On the detrimental side, L. brevis is a common beer spoilage microorganism (Behr et al, 2015), and some strains have also been found to produce biogenic amines (Coton and Coton, 2009;Romano et al, 2014) Therefore, the detection and identification of this species is crucial to predict and verify the successful progression of a fermentation process.…”

Levilactobacillus brevis with High Production of Putrescine Isolated from Blue Cheese and Its Application

“…Levilactobacillus brevis, isolated in this study as a polyamine-high-producing bacterium, is a type of lactic acid bacteria associated with the production of fermented foods, such as kefir [26], pickles [27], and sauerkraut [28]. L. brevis is known to produce γ-aminobutyric acid, which exhibits antihypertensive and antidepressant effects and is used as a probiotic [29].…”