薬理と治療

Abstract

Objective　To investigate the effect of Bifidobacterium longum BB536-containing synbiotics on the improvement of bowel movements and immune function in the elderly. Methods　A randomized, open-label, parallel-group study was performed on 93 Japanese individuals（aged≥65 years）. Three groups were formed（high dose ［HD］group［taking three sticks of synbiotics/day］, normal dose［ND］group［taking one stick of synbiotics╱day］, and nonintake group）. The intervention period was 4 weeks. Evaluation items comprised Constipation Assessment Scale（CAS-MT）, defecation status, subjective symptoms, and immunity and saliva tests. Results　Per-protocol set analysis included 30, 28, and 29 subjects in the HD, ND, and nonintake groups, respectively. After the four-week intervention, the CAS-MT scores were significantly lower in the ND group than in the nonintake group（P＜0.01）. Meanwhile, by subgroup analysis of subjects with preintake-period scores≥5, the CAS-MT scores of ND and HD groups were significantly lower than the nonintake group（ND group P＜0.01, HD group P＜0.05, respectively）. In the subjective symptom assessment, the question“feeling constipated” was significantly improved in both the ND and HD groups compared with the nonintake group （ND group P＜0.01, HD group P＜0.05, respectively）. In the immunity test, the number of NK cells was significantly increased in the ND group（P＜0.05）and the number of CD8＋T cells was significantly increased in the HD group（P＜0.01）compared with the nonintake group. No adverse events were observed. Conclusions　Continuous consumption of Bifidobacterium longum BB536-containing symbiotics for 4 weeks may contribute to improving bowel movements and immune function in the elderly.