Page 37 - FoodFocusThailand No.173 August 2020

STRATEGIC R&D
STRATEGIC R&D

That Stomach Feeling

Functional gastrointestinal challenges are associated with ongoing discomfort.
Occurrences are often associated with food intake, increased stress, or hormonal
changes. One can experience abdominal pain, cramps, bloating, gas, infrequent bowel
movements and/or loose stools – all of which are inconvenient and negatively impact
daily life.
An estimated 11% of people worldwide experience functional gastrointestinal
challenges. Prevalence rates are higher for women than for men, and younger
people are more likely to be affected than those older than 50 years. However,
the prevalence of functional gastrointestinal challenges is thought to be
underestimated.
On a personal level, people with functional gastrointestinal challenges
frequently report feeling sad, embarrassed and self-conscious. Several factors,
including diet, sedentary and stressful lifestyles, medications or hormonal changes,
Bifidobacterium IMPROVED BOWEL MOVEMENTS BY 35%
1
may cause infrequent bowel movements. This can be associated with pain and/
or a disturbing feeling of incomplete evacuation. This places a significant burden
on daily life, quality of relationships and could even limit participation in social
activities.
Functional gastrointestinal challenges also has a profound global impact as
it is one of the most common conditions identified by gastroenterologists and
primary care physicians. Ability to work is affected and people with the condition
are believed to be twice as likely to take time off work than people without.
Fortunately, there are actions we can take to keep our stomach in good shape.
We can eat healthily and live an active lifestyle. Supplementing our microflora
with documented probiotic strains, especially the special Bifidobacterium strain,
1
Figure 1 The intake of a Bifidobacterium containing oat drink for
1
one to seven months helped nursing home residents obtain normal can also help in improving bowel function e.g. by stimulating peristalsis.
1
bowel movements for significantly more days compared to placebo. The special Bifidobacterium strain which has been employed since 1975 is
Furthermore, the number of nursing home residents experiencing the world’s most well-documented probiotic Bifidobacterium, described in more
normal bowel movements for 30% or more of the days more than than 300 scientific publications (ref. PubMed database searched 2019) and backed
doubled compared to placebo (Pitkala et. al 2007).
by more than 100 clinical studies covering infants to elderly populations. Example
of the studies showed that the special Bifidobacterium strain helped elderly
1
nursing home residents to reach normal bowel movements for 35% days or
more (Figure 1). Another study showed that there was a 55% chance (Odds
a
ratio) for achieving an defecation frequency effect when consuming the special
Bifidobacterium1strain compared to placebo . (Figure 2)
b

ข้้อมููลเพิ่่�มูเติ่มู / Additional Information
®
1 Bifidobacterium สายพัันธุ์์� BB-12 จาก Chr. Hansen ประเทศเดนมาร�ก จัดจำาหน่ายโดย
Brenntag Ingredients (Thailand) Public Company Limited เป็นท่�นิยมใช้้อย่างกว้้างขว้างทั�ว้โลก
และม่อย่่ในโยเกิร�ตโพัรไบโอติกหลากหลายช้นิด
The Bifidobacterium, BB-12 strain from Chr. Hansen is distributed by Brenntag Ingredients
®
(Thailand) Public Company Limited and is immensely popular all over the world.
It is presented in many probiotic yogurts.
เอกสารอ้างอ่ง / References
Placebo Bifidobacterium a Pitkala KH, Strandberg TE, Finne Soveri UH, Ouwehand AC, Poussa T, Salminen S.
1
Fermented cereal with specific bifidobacteria normalizes bowel movements in elderly nursing
Figure 2 The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study by home residents. A randomized, controlled trial. J.Nutr. Health Aging 2007;11:305-311.
Eskesen et al. 2015 resulted in the largest dataset ever published b Eskesen D, Jespersen L, Michelsen B, Whorwell PJ, Muller-Lissner S, Morberg CM. Effect of
from a randomized, placebo-controlled study on the effect of the probiotic strain Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis, BB-12(R), on defecation
probiotics on bowel function frequency in healthy subjects with low defecation frequency and abdominal discomfort:
a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial. Br.J.Nutr. 2015:1-9.

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