Nutrition for prevention of infections

Abstract

A nutritional composition comprising a combination of non-digestible oligosaccharides and a product obtained by incubating an aqueous substrate by bifidobacteria and optionally a product obtained by incubating an aqueous substrate by S. thermophilus . Said combination reduces bacterial translocation and improves the intestinal barrier function.

1 - 16 . (canceled) 
     
     
         17 . A process for the manufacture of a preparation comprising the steps of:
 (a) incubating an aqueous substrate with  bifidobacteria , wherein the substrate comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of milk, milk protein, whey, whey protein, whey protein hydrolysate, casein hydrolysate, and lactose to obtain an incubated mixture; and   (b) combining the incubated mixture with at least two different non-digestible carbohydrates, wherein at least one of the non-digestible carbohydrates is selected from the group consisting of fructo-oligosaccharides, galacto-oligosaccharides, gluco-oligosaccharides, arabino-oligosaccharides, mannan-oligosaccharides, xylo-oligosaccharides, fuco-oligosaccharides, arabinogalacto-oligosaccharides, glucomanno-oligosaccharides, galactomanno-oligosaccharides, raffinose, lactosucrose, sialic acid comprising oligosaccharides and uronic acid oligosaccharides.   
     
     
         18 . The process of  claim 17 , further comprising inactivating the  bifidobacteria.    
     
     
         19 . The process of  claim 18 , in which the  bifidobacteria  is inactivated by heating the incubated mixture and/or removing  bifidobacteria  cells from the incubated mixture by centrifugation and/or filtration. 
     
     
         20 . The process according to  claim 18 , wherein the preparation comprises less than 10 3  cfu living  bifidobacteria  per gram dry weight of the preparation. 
     
     
         21 . The process according to  claim 17 , in which both of the at least two different non-digestible carbohydrates are selected from the group consisting of fructo-oligosaccharides, galacto-oligosaccharides, gluco-oligosaccharides, arabino-oligosaccharides, mannan-oligosaccharides, xylo-oligosaccharides, fuco-oligosaccharides, arabinogalacto-oligosaccharides, glucomanno-oligosaccharides, galactomanno-oligosaccharides, raffinose, lactosucrose, sialic acid comprising oligosaccharides and uronic acid oligosaccharides. 
     
     
         22 . The process according to  claim 17 , wherein at least one, optionally both, of the at least two different non-digestible carbohydrates is selected from the group consisting of galacto-oligosaccharides and fructo-oligosaccharides. 
     
     
         23 . The process according to  claim 17 , in which the  bifidobacteria  comprises the species  B. breve.    
     
     
         24 . The process according to  claim 23 , in which the species  B. breve  is strain  B. breve  CNCM I-2219. 
     
     
         25 . The process according to  claim 17 , further comprising at (c) combining the incubated mixture with a second incubated mixture prepared as follows:
 (i) incubating a substrate with  Streptococcus thermophilus , wherein the substrate is selected from the group consisting of milk, milk protein, whey, whey protein, whey protein hydrolysate, casein, casein hydrolysate, and lactose, to obtain an incubated mixture; and, optionally,   (ii) inactivating the  S. thermophilus  by heating the incubated mixture of step d and/or removing  S. thermophilus  cells from the incubated mixture of step e by centrifugation and/or filtration.   
     
     
         26 . The process according to  claim 25 , in which the  Streptococcus thermophilus  comprises strain  S. thermophilus  CNCM I-1620, CNCM I-1470, or both. 
     
     
         27 . The process according to  claim 17 , further comprising (c) drying the preparation. 
     
     
         28 . The process according to  claim 17 , in which at least one of the non-digestible carbohydrates is fructo-oligosaccharide. 
     
     
         29 . A preparation obtained by the process according to  claim 17 . 
     
     
         30 . The preparation according to  claim 29  comprising 0.5 to 10 grams of non-digestible carbohydrate per 100 g dry weight of the composition. 
     
     
         31 . An infant nutritional composition comprising, based on dry weight of the composition,
 (a) 0.5 to 10 wt. % the sum of galacto-oligosaccharides and fructo-oligosaccharides, and   (b) from 5 to 99.5 wt. % of the preparation obtained from  claim 17 , wherein the  bifidobacteria  belongs to the species  B. breve.      
     
     
         32 . The composition of  claim 31 , further comprising (c) 2 to 94.5 wt. % of a preparation obtainable by:
 (a) incubating an aqueous substrate with  bifidobacteria , wherein the substrate comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of milk, milk protein, whey, whey protein, whey protein hydrolysate, casein hydrolysate, and lactose to obtain an incubated mixture; and   (b) combining the incubated mixture with at least two different non-digestible carbohydrates, wherein at least one of the non-digestible carbohydrates is selected from the group consisting of fructo-oligosaccharides, galacto-oligosaccharides, gluco-oligosaccharides, arabino-oligosaccharides, mannan-oligosaccharides, xylo-oligosaccharides, fuco-oligosaccharides, arabinogalacto-oligosaccharides, glucomanno-oligosaccharides, galactomanno-oligosaccharides, raffinose, lactosucrose, sialic acid comprising oligosaccharides and uronic acid oligosaccharides.   
     
     
         33 . A method of providing nutrition to an infant, comprising administering to the infant the preparation according to  claim 29 . 
     
     
         34 . The method according to  claim 33 , in which the infant suffers from infections and/or diarrhoea. 
     
     
         35 . The method according to  claim 34 , in which the infection is bacterial translocation. 
     
     
         36 . A method of improving intestinal barrier function, increasing intestinal barrier maturation and/or decreasing intestinal barrier permeability of a mammal, comprising administering to the mammal a composition according to  claim 31 .