• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.52-62
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• 2010

The aim of this study was to evaluated the efficacy of mixture of Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) and bifidobacteria supplement, which are contained with Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium longum SPM1205, and Pediococcus pentosaceus for the management of constipation in animal model and clinical trials. 5 ICR mice and 4 female constipation subjects were orally taken mixture of LAB and bifidobacteria for 2 weeks. We investigated the number of fecal LAB and harmful enzymes activities before and after mixture of LAB and bifidobacteria application. As a result, fecal LAB count was increased and harmful enzymes activities of intestinal microflora were generally decreased after mixture of LAB and bifidobacteria application. Also, 61 female subjects were randomly assigned to receive either mixture of LAB and bifidobacteria or lactose and were taken three times a day for 2 weeks. Then, we analyzed mixture of LAB and bifidobacteria effect through the questionnaires. Daily consumption of this mixture of LAB and bifidobacteria improved the constipation in constipation group (56.3%) compared with lactose application group (26.7%). Furthermore, after mixture of LAB and bifidobacteria treatment, frequency of hard stool decreased from 0.22 to 0.03. These results indicated that mixture of LAB and bifidobacteria application is effective to improve the constipation.