PREBIOTICS

THE PREBIOTIC FIBER TRIAD:
– FRUIT OLIGOSACCHARIDES (FOS)
– INULIN
– MANNAN OLIGOSACCHARIDES (MOS) of brewer’s yeast

FOS, MOS and INULIN are dietary fibers, i.e. non-digestible carbohydrates, of undisputed importance in both human and animal nutrition.

From a chemical point of view, FOS and inulin are fructans (carbohydrates consisting of the repetition of fructose units) with a short chain (FOS) and slightly longer (INULINA) particularly abundant in foods such as chicory and Jerusalem artichokes.

MOS are always dietary fibers, but made up of mannose repetition and mainly deriving from the walls of the yeasts.

All three have a prebiotic action, i.e. they are able to confer a health benefit through a modulation of the intestinal microbiota (FAO), i.e. the set of millions of microorganisms characteristic of the intestinal tract of various mammals. These microorganisms exert a beneficial and vital effect on the health of the host. ((Suchodolski, 2011)).

In fact, there are several studies that constantly highlight a symbiosis between maintaining health and the balance of the intestinal microbiota.

How do prebiotic fibers have a beneficial effect on the microbiota?

Humans and other mammals, including dogs and cats, do not have all the enzymes necessary to degrade plant fibers (such as fructo-oligosaccharides and inulin) within their intestinal tracts, (Flint HJ, 2012), therefore, these, once consumed and arrived in the small intestine, not being digestible, are fermented by the bacteria of the colon microbiota thus exerting a positive effect on the abundance of specific bacterial groups with a beneficial action (eg Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium); this action translates into positive effects on multiple functions, such as e.g. intestinal motility, cellular integrity and microbial biochemical networks. (Scott KP, 2015).

Several studies have shown that integrating the diet of dogs with fructo-oligosaccharides leads to an improvement in the digestion of various minerals and an increase in Bifidobacteria, one of the beneficial microorganisms that in fact populate both the human and canine intestine which plays a key role also in the modulation of the immune system and digestive functions (Carlo Pinna1, 2018).

However, the prebiotic mechanism of action of MOS seems to be different, for which various studies have highlighted their ability to selectively bind to receptors present on the intestinal wall, making them unavailable to pathogenic bacteria, with a consequent stimulation of the growth of “good” bacteria.

CAROB FLOUR: The carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua L.) is an evergreen tree belonging to the Leguminous family that grows in the arid and semi-arid regions of the Mediterranean basin. Despite the high sugar content, the carob pod is rich in insoluble fiber and microconstituents including phenolic compounds, inositols (mainly d-pinitol), and vitamins. (Aristea Gioxari 1, 2022).

YANG®: It is a mixture of inactivated yeasts specifically Saccharomyces cerevisiae (commonly known as brewer’s yeast) and Cyberlindnera jadinii.

Yeasts are unicellular eukaryotic organisms that belong to the kingdom of fungi.

Brewer’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) in particular is used in the diet of animals for its nutritional power, being rich in precious macronutrients such as proteins, but also trace elements such as selenium and chromium, group B vitamins and many other health-promoting substances.

These actions are to be attributed above all to the richness in these nutrients.

Cyberlindnera jadinii is also a yeast widely used for its nutritional power, being also rich in proteins and vitamins.

PETMOD® NUCLEOTIDES FROM BREWER’S YEAST

Nucleotides are the repeating units that make up nucleic acids (DNA and RNA).

They consist of 3 components: a nitrogenous base (purine or pyrimidine), a sugar with 5 carbon atoms, which together with the nitrogenous base constitutes the nucleoside, and one or more phosphate groups.

Some studies conducted on fish have shown that the integration of nucleotides through food exerted a useful action on the intestinal level, increasing its growth and development. (Toshimasa Tsujinaka MD, 1999)

For this reason, the demand for inserting nucleotides in pet food is increasingly growing, with the ultimate goal of contributing to the normal immune function and intestinal health of small pets as well. (Natalia Russo1, Nucleotide inclusion in pet food: effect of heat treatment, 2019)

BANANA FLOUR

Banana is a very popular fruit in the world market and is consumed as a basic food in many countries. It is consumed raw or processed and also as a functional ingredient in various food products. Banana contains several bioactive compounds, such as phenols, carotenoids, biogenic amines and phytosterols, which exert many positive effects on health and well-being. Many of these compounds have antioxidant activity by protecting the body from oxidative stress. (Balwinder Singh a, 2015)

Some studies have shown that the polyphenolic component, specifically the flavonoids, in addition to the antioxidant action, also play a beneficial role at the gastric level.

PROBIOTICS:

ENTEROCOCUS FAECIUM DSM 10663/NCIMB 10415 (35 X 10^9 CFU/g)

What are Probiotics? In the feed sector, these are the so-called zootechnical additives that stabilize the intestinal flora, i.e. micro-organisms which, if administered to animals, exert a positive effect on their intestinal flora; (Europeo, 2003) they are in fact able to colonize the intestine of the host animal, giving it a beneficial effect. 

Adhesion of the probiotic microorganism to the host intestinal mucosa is considered a crucial step for colonization and further interaction with the host epithelium and its immune system. (Mohsen Hanifeh, 2021). In fact, both pathogenic and commensal microorganisms express various adhesin molecules on their surface, allowing them to bind to various surfaces in the host. For this reason, when selecting strains of microorganisms with probiotic action, these must be characterized by a high ability to attach to the intestine.

Some studies have shown that this ability is related to the specificity of the host; therefore, for effective use as a probiotic, the bacterial species should be of intestinal origin of the host and Enterococcus faecium DSM 10663/NCIMB 10415 used in the LactoAdapt product has this characteristic.

Probiotics can improve mucosal health by several mechanisms, including production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), antimicrobial substances, modulation of the immune response, competitive exclusion of pathogenic bacteria by interfering with their adhesion to the intestinal mucosa and improvement of epithelial barrier functions.

INACTIVE BACTERIA (LACTOBACILLUS HELVETICUS HA 122 (ex ACIDOPHILUS HA122), LACTOBACILLUS PARACASEI HA108, BIFIDOBACTERIUM BIFIDUM:

The inactivated microorganisms, also known as “tyndallized”, are subjected to a particular thermal treatment which “inactivates” them, thus making them incapable of metabolizing and reproducing. Their activity is therefore not attributable to the possibility of generating new progeny and therefore of colonizing the intestine, but that of constituting a “base” on which, at the intestinal level, a suitable substrate is reconstituted for the recolonization of the symbiotic flora.