The intestinal microflora in rats fed an oligosaccharide containing soft drink was examined according to the method for the evaluation of the functionality of health food declared by the Department of Health, Taiwan. Thirty six Sprague-Dawley male rats, 6 week old, were randomly assigned to one of the following three groups: Oligo, Mix and Control. They were all fed ad libitum the AIN-76 diet. In addition, they were fed respectively with 25mL/day/rat of OligoR Drink which provided 0.52 g of isomaltooligosaccharides and 0.17 g of galactooligosaccharides, a control drink which was free of oligosaccharide and a “Mixed” drink which was made by mixing up equal amounts of OligoR and the control drink. The cecal microflora were examined after 5~6 weeks of feeding. Rats of the Oligo group showed significantly higher counts of Lactobacillus spp. (p<0.05), but significantly lower counts of Clostridium perfringens (p < 0.05), than those in the control group. The count for cecal Lactobacillus spp. of the Mix group were also significantly higher than those in the control group (p<0.05), but significantly lower than those in the Oligo group (p<0.05). The counts of cecal Clostridium perfringens in the Mix group was not significantly different from that in the control group (p>0.05). The results indicated that the oligosaccharide-containing soft drink could improve the intestinal microflora in this rat model.
The intestinal microflora in rats fed an oligosaccharide containing soft drink was examined according to the method for the evaluation of the functionality of health food declared by the Department of Health, Taiwan. Thirty six Sprague-Dawley male rats, 6 week old, were randomly assigned to one of the following three groups: Oligo, Mix and Control. They were all fed ad libitum the AIN-76 diet. In addition, they were fed respectively with 25mL/day/rat of OligoR Drink which provided 0.52 g of isomaltooligosaccharides and 0.17 g of galactooligosaccharides, a control drink which was free of oligosaccharide and a “Mixed” drink which was made by mixing up equal amounts of OligoR and the control drink. The cecal microflora were examined after 5~6 weeks of feeding. Rats of the Oligo group showed significantly higher counts of Lactobacillus spp. (p<0.05), but significantly lower counts of Clostridium perfringens (p < 0.05), than those in the control group. The count for cecal Lactobacillus spp. of the Mix group were also significantly higher than those in the control group (p<0.05), but significantly lower than those in the Oligo group (p<0.05). The counts of cecal Clostridium perfringens in the Mix group was not significantly different from that in the control group (p>0.05). The results indicated that the oligosaccharide-containing soft drink could improve the intestinal microflora in this rat model.