THE EFFECTS OF L.CASEI STRAIN SHIROTA SUPPLEMENTATION ON FAECAL PROFILES AND BODY WEIGHT GAIN OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBESE MALAY CHILDREN

Probiotic Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota (LcS) has been proven beneficial for the treatment of gut-related conditions. However, it is unclear how it influences faecal SCFAs concentrations and how it disrupted in overweight and obese children. This study aimed to investigate the effect of  LcS  on faecal profiles and body weight gain in overweight (OW) and obese (OB) children. A total of 42 children, comprising 22 OW/OB children (mean age = 8.73 ± 1.03 years old; BMI = 24.73 ± 3.91 kg/m2; 54.5% boys) and 20 normal weight (NW) children (as a control), were randomly assigned to either receive daily 80 ml of probiotic drink at a dosage of 3.0 x 1010 colony-forming units (CFU) for 4 weeks or a control. Faecal samples were taken, and SCFAs were analysed by HPLC. Results: Twenty-two OW/OB participants completed the study. At the end of the fourth week of  LcS  supplementations, the propionate and the total SCFAs concentrations increased significantly over time with evident intervention effect (p<0.05). In the treatment group, the faecal propionate concentration (Mean= 153.57 µmol/g , SD= 142.17) increased by 161 % and total SCFAs concentration (Mean= 201.44 µmol/g , SD= 162.90) increased by 79 % from the baseline. The mean percentage of body weight changed significantly within the treatment and control groups: 6.4% in the control group and 7.4% in the treatment group (p 0.05). Nevertheless, no such significant differences were found between the treatment and control groups (p>0.05). LcS supplementations for the 4 weeks in OW/OB children were able to increase levels of propionate as compared to baseline values.