Inulin and oligofructose as prebiotics in the prevention of intestinal infections and diseases

Abstract

Health and wellbeing are challenged constantly by pathogens. A number of defence mechanisms exist to protect the body from pathogen colonisation and invasion, with an important role to play for the natural intestinal bacterial flora (mainly by bifidobacteria and lactobacilli). The present paper reviews the evidence on the effects of inulin and oligofructose on colonisation and translocation of pathogens and the prevention of intestinal diseases. In vitro experiments have shown that lactic acid-producing bacteria have antagonistic (antibacterial) activity against pathogens partly because of the production of organic acids which are the endproducts of inulin and oligofructose fermentation. In addition, studies with epithelial layers have shown that inulin and oligofructose inhibit pathogen colonisation and that endproducts of their fermentation have the ability to support barrier function. Furthermore, studies in various animal models have shown that inulin and oligofructose accelerate the recovery of beneficial bacteria, slow down pathogen growth, decreasing pathogen colonisation and systemic translocation. Finally, data from human intervention trials either in patients with intestinal disorders or disease, or prone to critical illness, found that inulin and oligofructose restore the balance when the gut microbial community is altered, inhibit the progression of disease or prevent it from relapsing and/or developing. To conclude, the dietary use of inulin and oligofructose offers a promising approach to restore microbial communities and to support barrier function of the epithelia by their prebiotic action. This may offer the host protection against invasion and translocation of pathogens (endogenous and/or exogenous) and in the prevention of gastrointestinal diseases.

Effects of feeding finisher pigs with chicory or lupine feed for one week or two weeks before slaughter with respect to levels of Bifidobacteria and Campylobacter

“…Prebiotics are non-digestible carbohydrates (oligo-and polysaccharides) that stimulate the growth of bacteria that benefits the gastrointestinal health of the host, such as bifodobacteria (Gibson and Roberfroid, 1995). A feeding strategy that includes prebiotics is likely to cause changes in the composition of the gut microbiota and serve as a means to reduce the pathogen load in pigs (Grizard and Barthomeuf, 1999;Bosscher et al, 2006). A fructan-rich diet (chicory) was successful in preventing the development of swine dysentery , and the Campylobacter spp.…”

The effect of a diet with fructan-rich chicory roots on intestinal helminths and microbiota with special focus on Bifidobacteria and Campylobacter in piglets around weaning

“…Consequently, the restrictions on the use of medical treatments in organic pig farming necessitate alternative strategies to prevent diarrhoea and other diseases -E-mail: anyj@food.dtu.dk including a means to reduce the load of human pathogens. Feeding piglets chicory root is a promising non-medical strategy due to the prebiotic effect of fructans (Grizard and Barthomeuf, 1999;Bosscher et al, 2006). For example, experimental inulin diets reduced the worm burdens of Oesophagostomum dentatum and Trichuris suis in pigs by 97% and 71%, respectively (Petkevičius et al, 2003 and, and a recent study has demonstrated a marked effect of crude chicory on Ascaris suum (Mejer, 2006).…”

In Vitro Kinetic Analysis of Fermentation of Prebiotic Inulin-Type Fructans by Bifidobacterium Species Reveals Four Different Phenotypes

“…At the origin of the development of the prebiotic concept lies the observation of the stimulative effect of inulin-type fructans on the fecal Bifidobacterium population during in vitro experiments (12,14,48). Although the prebiotic properties of other food ingredients have been acknowledged (11), oligofructose and inulin still remain the best-studied ingredients and have gained a status of model prebiotics (2,39). It has become clear that their stimulatory effect exceeds the colonic Bifidobacterium population and affects other genera, for instance, butyrate-producing colon bacteria belonging to clostridial cluster XIVa (5,24), which have been reported to account for up to 3% of total fecal bacteria (17).…”