Flexibility of Gut Microbiota in Ageing Individuals during Dietary Fiber Long-Chain Inulin Intake.

Scope: During ageing, dysbiosis in the intestinal microbiota may occur and impact health. There is a paucity of studies on the effect of fiber on the elderly microbiota and the flexibility of the aged microbiota upon prebiotic intake. It is hypothesized that chicory long-chain inulin consumption can change microbiota composition, microbial fermentation products, and immunity in the elderly.

Chain length-dependent effects of inulin-type fructan dietary fiber on human systemic immune responses against hepatitis-B.

Scope: In vivo studies demonstrating that only specific dietary-fibers contribute to immunity are still inconclusive, as measuring immune effects in healthy humans remains difficult. We applied a relatively inefficacious vaccination-challenge to study chain length-dependent effects of inulin-type fructan (ITF) dietary fibers on human immunity.

Methods And Results: ITFs with two different 'degree of polymerization-' (DP)-profiles were tested in vitro for effects on PBMC-cytokines and TLR2 activation.