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Low-Dose Lactulose as a Prebiotic for Improved Gut Health and Enhanced Mineral Absorption
Although medium and high doses of lactulose are used routinely for the treatment of constipation and hepatic encephalopathy, respectively, a wealth of evidence demonstrates that, at low doses, lactulose can also be used as a prebiotic to stimulate the growth of health-promoting bacteria in the gastr...
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8353095/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34386514 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2021.672925 |
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author | Karakan, Tarkan Tuohy, Kieran Michael Janssen-van Solingen, Gwendolyn |
author_facet | Karakan, Tarkan Tuohy, Kieran Michael Janssen-van Solingen, Gwendolyn |
author_sort | Karakan, Tarkan |
collection | PubMed |
description | Although medium and high doses of lactulose are used routinely for the treatment of constipation and hepatic encephalopathy, respectively, a wealth of evidence demonstrates that, at low doses, lactulose can also be used as a prebiotic to stimulate the growth of health-promoting bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. Indeed, multiple preclinical and clinical studies have shown that low doses of lactulose enhance the proliferation of health-promoting gut bacteria (e.g., Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus spp.) and increase the production of beneficial metabolites [e.g., short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs)], while inhibiting the growth of potentially pathogenic bacteria (e.g., certain clostridia). SCFAs produced upon microbial fermentation of lactulose, the most abundant of which is acetate, are likely to contribute to immune regulation, which is important not only within the gut itself, but also systemically and for bone health. Low-dose lactulose has also been shown to enhance the absorption of minerals such as calcium and magnesium from the gut, an effect which may have important implications for bone health. This review provides an overview of the preclinical and clinical evidence published to date showing that low-dose lactulose stimulates the growth of health-promoting gut bacteria, inhibits the growth of pathogenic bacteria, increases the production of beneficial metabolites, improves mineral absorption, and has good overall tolerability. Implications of these data for the use of lactulose as a prebiotic are also discussed. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8353095 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-83530952021-08-11 Low-Dose Lactulose as a Prebiotic for Improved Gut Health and Enhanced Mineral Absorption Karakan, Tarkan Tuohy, Kieran Michael Janssen-van Solingen, Gwendolyn Front Nutr Nutrition Although medium and high doses of lactulose are used routinely for the treatment of constipation and hepatic encephalopathy, respectively, a wealth of evidence demonstrates that, at low doses, lactulose can also be used as a prebiotic to stimulate the growth of health-promoting bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. Indeed, multiple preclinical and clinical studies have shown that low doses of lactulose enhance the proliferation of health-promoting gut bacteria (e.g., Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus spp.) and increase the production of beneficial metabolites [e.g., short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs)], while inhibiting the growth of potentially pathogenic bacteria (e.g., certain clostridia). SCFAs produced upon microbial fermentation of lactulose, the most abundant of which is acetate, are likely to contribute to immune regulation, which is important not only within the gut itself, but also systemically and for bone health. Low-dose lactulose has also been shown to enhance the absorption of minerals such as calcium and magnesium from the gut, an effect which may have important implications for bone health. This review provides an overview of the preclinical and clinical evidence published to date showing that low-dose lactulose stimulates the growth of health-promoting gut bacteria, inhibits the growth of pathogenic bacteria, increases the production of beneficial metabolites, improves mineral absorption, and has good overall tolerability. Implications of these data for the use of lactulose as a prebiotic are also discussed. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-07-27 /pmc/articles/PMC8353095/ /pubmed/34386514 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2021.672925 Text en Copyright © 2021 Karakan, Tuohy and Janssen-van Solingen. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Nutrition Karakan, Tarkan Tuohy, Kieran Michael Janssen-van Solingen, Gwendolyn Low-Dose Lactulose as a Prebiotic for Improved Gut Health and Enhanced Mineral Absorption |
title | Low-Dose Lactulose as a Prebiotic for Improved Gut Health and Enhanced Mineral Absorption |
title_full | Low-Dose Lactulose as a Prebiotic for Improved Gut Health and Enhanced Mineral Absorption |
title_fullStr | Low-Dose Lactulose as a Prebiotic for Improved Gut Health and Enhanced Mineral Absorption |
title_full_unstemmed | Low-Dose Lactulose as a Prebiotic for Improved Gut Health and Enhanced Mineral Absorption |
title_short | Low-Dose Lactulose as a Prebiotic for Improved Gut Health and Enhanced Mineral Absorption |
title_sort | low-dose lactulose as a prebiotic for improved gut health and enhanced mineral absorption |
topic | Nutrition |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8353095/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34386514 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2021.672925 |
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