Dietary Intervention with Yoghurt, Synbiotic Yogurt or Traditional Fermented Sobya: Bio-Potency among Male Adolescents Using Five Bio-Markers of Relevance to Colonic Metabolic Activities

Abstract

The objective of the present work is to test the effectiveness of probiotic potency of regular yoghurt, synbiotic yoghurt and traditional fermented Egyptian sobya containing endogenous probiotic strains compared to unfermented rice milk porridge. Methods: The study consisted of 28 male subjects with mean age of 13.9 ± 0.1 years. The subjects were divided into four groups, three groups consumed one of three fermented supplements, while the fourth group served as a control group. Stool and urinary samples were carried out prefeeding and after 3-week nutritional intervention for assessing five indicators of revelance to colonic metabolic activities. The fermented supplements used for evaluation were regular yoghurt, synbiotic yoghurt and traditional fermented sobya; while the fourth group was given unfermented rice milk and served as control. Intestinal permeability was assessed by the urinary lactulose mannitol ratio. Results: The mean fecal total lactobacilli counts increased (P < 0.05) three weeks after daily consumption of the three fermented supplements (P < 0.05), when compared to the pre-intervention levels. Similar trends were observed for genus bifidobacterium. On the contrary, Enterobacteriaceae counts were reduced in all the three groups consuming fermented supplements. The three-week dietary interventions with regular yogurt or sobya significantly reduced the lactulose/manitol (L/M) ratios (P < 0.05). The mean urinary anti-oxidative activities increased only among subjects consuming synbiotic yogurt for three weeks, compared to pre-intervention period (P < 0.05). Similar trend was found after consumption of fermented sobya, but the increase didn’t attain significant level (P > 0.05). Mean fecal short chain fatty acids concentrations (acetic; propionic and butyric) tended to increase following the intervention with synbiotic yogurt or sobya compared to respective pre-intervention values; but the difference didn’t attain significance (0.1 > P > 0.05).