{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,17]],"date-time":"2026-10-17T05:02:33Z","timestamp":1792213353069,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":12,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,26]],"date-time":"2022-08-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1661472000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Morinaga Milk Industry Co., Ltd."}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Oral administration of a low dose of lactulose increases the abundance of genus Bifidobacterium in the large intestine; however, the details of the daily variation in Bifidobacterium have not been researched. To observe how the intestinal microbiota, including Bifidobacterium, change, especially immediately after the initiation of ingestion, we conducted a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind crossover study of ingestion of 4 g lactulose\/day for 2 weeks in 36 healthy Japanese (including males and females). The primary outcome was the percentage of Bifidobacterium in the faecal bacteria. In the lactulose-treatment group, the percentage of Bifidobacterium was already significantly higher 2 days after starting lactulose ingestion than in the placebo group (20.5 \u00b1 1.2% vs. 17.1 \u00b1 1.2%, p = 0.021). Significant differences were maintained, gradually widening, until the end of the 2-week intervention period. There were significant increases in the percentage and the number of Bifidobacterium with ingestion of 4 g lactulose\/day for 2 weeks, but no significant changes in the beta diversity of the intestinal microbiota between lactulose and placebo ingestion. The percentage of Bifidobacterium in the faecal bacteria returned to its original level within a week of the end of intervention with lactulose.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms10091719","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,29]],"date-time":"2022-08-29T03:34:56Z","timestamp":1661744096000},"page":"1719","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Lactulose Ingestion Induces a Rapid Increase in Genus Bifidobacterium in Healthy Japanese: A Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Crossover Trial"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9522-7341","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yohei","family":"Sakai","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Food Ingredients & Technology Institute, R&D Division, Morinaga Milk Industry Co., Ltd., 5-1-83 Higashihara, Zama, Kanagawa 252-8583, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hiroshi","family":"Ochi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Food Ingredients & Technology Institute, R&D Division, Morinaga Milk Industry Co., Ltd., 5-1-83 Higashihara, Zama, Kanagawa 252-8583, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Miyuki","family":"Tanaka","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Food Ingredients & Technology Institute, R&D Division, Morinaga Milk Industry Co., Ltd., 5-1-83 Higashihara, Zama, Kanagawa 252-8583, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"(2022, July 06). Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions 2019. Available online: https:\/\/www.e-stat.go.jp\/dbview?sid=0003442361."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"110","DOI":"10.1016\/j.idairyj.2011.09.016","article-title":"Lactose as a source for lactulose and other functional lactose derivatives","volume":"22","author":"Seki","year":"2012","journal-title":"Int. Dairy J."},{"key":"ref_3","first-page":"43","article-title":"Effect of Lactulose on the Composition and Metabolic Activity of the Human Faecal Flora","volume":"5","author":"Terada","year":"1992","journal-title":"Microb. Ecol. Health Dis."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Takahashi, S., Tomita, J., Nishioka, K., Hisada, T., and Nishijima, M. (2014). Development of a Prokaryotic Universal Primer for Simultaneous Analysis of Bacteria and Archaea Using Next-Generation Sequencing. 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Microflora"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"69","DOI":"10.12938\/bmfh.18-013","article-title":"A study of the prebiotic effect of lactulose with low dosages on healthy Japanese women","volume":"38","author":"Sakai","year":"2019","journal-title":"Bio. Sci. Microbiota Food Health"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"174","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00440162","article-title":"Bifidusflora bei Flaschenkindern durch bifidogene Substanzen (Bifidusfaktor)","volume":"79","author":"Petuely","year":"1957","journal-title":"Z. Kinderheilkd."}],"container-title":["Microorganisms"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-2607\/10\/9\/1719\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T00:15:53Z","timestamp":1760141753000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-2607\/10\/9\/1719"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,26]]},"references-count":12,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,9]]}},"alternative-id":["microorganisms10091719"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/microorganisms10091719","relation":{},"ISSN":["2076-2607"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2076-2607","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,26]]}}}