Fructo-oligosaccharide tolerance in patients with hereditary fructose intolerance. A preliminary nonrandomized open challenge short-term study

Safety of vaccines administration in hereditary fructose intolerance

Patients with hereditary fructose intolerance need to follow a life-long fructose dietary and drug restriction to prevent symptoms of intoxication. Concerns about vaccines administration have been manifested overtime, for the risk of a life-threatening acute intoxication. For this reason, at Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesù we performed a deepen research from open sources, datasheets and Pharmaceutical Companies informations from the most common Italian and European vaccines, which are carried out in infancy and childhood. As a safe threshold of 2.4 mg/kg/dose was recently established for oral and parenteral (other than i.v.) route, the manuscript clarifies the safe administration of majority of vaccines in patients with hereditary fructose intolerance.

Prebiotic potential of Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.) in Wistar rats: effects of levels of supplementation on hindgut fermentation, intestinal morphology, blood metabolites and immune response

BACKGROUND

Many studies have been conducted using purified prebiotics such as inulin or fructooligosaccharides (FOS) as nutraceuticals, but there is very little information available on the prebiotic potential of raw products rich in inulin and FOS, such as Jerusalem artichoke (JA; Helianthus tuberosus L.). The present experiment aimed to evaluate the prebiotic effects of JA tubers in rats.

RESULTS

Seventy-two Wistar weanling rats divided into four groups were fed for 12 weeks on a basal diet fortified with pulverized JA tubers at 0 (control), 20, 40 and 60 g kg(-1) levels. Enhanced cell-mediated immunity in terms of skin indurations (P = 0.082) and CD4+ T-lymphocyte population (P = 0.002) was observed in the JA-supplemented groups compared with the control group. Blood haemoglobin (P = 0.017), glucose (P = 0.001), urea (P = 0.004) and calcium (P = 0.048) varied favourably upon inclusion of JA. An increasing trend (P = 0.059) in the length of large intestine was apparent in the JA-fed groups. The tissue mass of caecum (P = 0.069) and colon (P = 0.003) was increased in the JA-supplemented groups, accompanied by higher (P = 0.007) caecal crypt depth. The pH and ammonia concentrations of intestinal digesta decreased and those of lactate and total volatile fatty acids increased in the JA-fed groups.

CONCLUSION

The results suggest that JA had beneficial effects on immunity, blood metabolites, intestinal morphometry and hindgut fermentation of rats.

Structural and functional aspects of prebiotics used in infant nutrition

Breast-feeding is associated with several benefits. Among them, the balanced postnatal development of the immune system is 1 of the key functions of breast-feeding. Although this effect is of multifactorial origin, it is widely accepted that the entire intestinal microbiota of breast-fed infants represents an important stimulating factor of the postnatal development of the immune system. The effect of breast-feeding on the intestinal microbiota can not be attributed to a single compound, but there is accumulating evidence that human milk oligosaccharides play a crucial role. Because there is a broad consensus that the intestinal microbiota plays an important physiological role for the host, many attempts have been made to influence the intestinal flora by dietary interventions. This article summarizes results of intervention studies in which nonmilk oligosaccharides have been used to mimic the prebiotic effect of breast-feeding. A second focus has been related to the question of whether the prebiotic activity has beneficial effects on the postnatal development of the immune system. The data clearly demonstrate that prebiotics of nonmilk origin can mimic the prebiotic effect of breast-feeding, and this has positive consequences for the postnatal development of the immune system.