Basic nutritional investigationAntidiabetic effect of probiotic dahi containing Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus casei in high fructose fed rats
Introduction
Fermented dairy products containing probiotic lactic acid bacteria and Bifidobacteria are currently the best-known examples of functional foods [1]. Dahi is a traditional Indian fermented milk product and is considered a functional food due to its nutritional and therapeutic benefits [2], [3]. Yet, there are very limited studies on antidiabetic effect of lactic acid bacteria despite their potential in reducing the risk of diabetes onset. Matsuzaki et al. [4] reported that oral administration of Lactobacillus casei in KK-Ay mice significantly decreased plasma glucose levels and inhibited the production of β-cell specific CD4+ T cells and cytokines (interferon-γ and interleukin-2) that are leading factors for induction of autoimmune diabetes. They also reported that feeding of L. casei to alloxan-treated BALB/c mice inhibited the alloxan-induced disappearance of pancreatic β-cells [5]. In another study, they observed that autoimmune destruction of pancreatic β-cells was also inhibited by the oral administration of L. casei in NOD mice [6]. Tabuchi et al. [7] also reported that the elevation of glucose intolerance and hyperglycemia was significantly delayed by feeding of Lactobacillus GG during progression of streptozotocin-induced diabetes in rats. In contrast to these observations, in the present study dahi was used as a carrier of probiotics rather than direct administration of cultures.
Feeding of a high fructose diet provides a dietary model of type 2 diabetes associated with insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia [8], [9], hypertriglyceridemia [9], [10], and hypertension [11]. An overload of fructose to the liver perturbs the glucose metabolism and glucose uptake pathways, leading to an enhanced rate of de novo lipogenesis and triacylglycerol synthesis through a high flux of glycerol and acyl molecules from fructose catabolism, ultimately inducing insulin resistance commonly observed in human and animal models [12].
Keeping in view the gaps in these studies, the present study investigated the effect of feeding low-fat probiotic dahi containing L. acidophilus and L. casei on type 2 diabetes-inducing risk factors in high fructose-fed rats.
Section snippets
Preparation of dahi
Dahi was prepared by inoculating probiotic L. acidophilus, L. casei, and L. lactis biovar diacetylactis (National Dairy Culture Collection, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, India) and incubating at 37°C for 12–14 h [13]. Fresh dahi samples were analyzed for pH, titratable acidity in terms of lactic acid, crude protein, fat, lactose, moisture, and total solids by methods described by the Association of Official Analytical Chemists [14] and composition as described elsewhere [13].
Animal maintenance and experimental setup
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Results
As presented in Table 2, the food and water intakes were fairly uniform across groups (i.e., NCG, HFCG, and DHFG) of rats tested. The energy intakes through diets were also similar across groups, but the extra energy was received by high fructose water solution in the HFCG and DHFG animals. The total daily energy consumption was higher in HFCG and DHFG animals than in NCG animals, which is evident from the rapid gain in body weight of the rats.
Figure 1 shows that OGTTs were impaired within 3 wk
Discussion
Recent studies have concentrated on various strategies to prevent and/or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes and its complications [22]. One of these strategies is the consumption of foods low in the glycemic index with bioactive agents that have been adopted to prevent or delay the onset of disease. In the present study we observed the delaying effect of a fermented milk product, dahi, which contains probiotic bacteria. The results confirmed that the dahi containing probiotic bacteria L.
Conclusion
The results obtained in this study show that a dahi-supplemented diet significantly delayed the progression of high fructose-induced glucose intolerance, hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, dyslipidemia, and oxidative stress in rats. Thus dietary dahi may play a role in slowing down the biochemical changes that lead to diabetes.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Dr. A. K. Puniya, Senior Scientist, Dairy Microbiology Division, for invaluable suggestions and keen checking of the manuscript.
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