Research into the microbiome is exploding in human health and without a doubt, pet food companies will be isolating forms of bacteria found to benefit pets and add to their food. Purina has added Bifidobacterium longum 1999 (B. longum) to one of their kibble formulas and touts the benefits as an antianxiety kibble (1). B. longum is a well-studied strain with a lot of scientific evidence to back it up. Many processed human food products claim to have b. longum for health benefits. We’ll review some basic studies, show three strategies you can use to increase this strain of beneficial bacteria in your dog’s gut without feeding kibble.
What is B. longum?
Bifidobacterium longum is a gram-positive, rod-shaped bacterium that colonizes human and many mammals GI tract. It is one of the earliest bacteria to colonize an infant’s gut as it is found in the mother’s breastmilk. It has been established that B. infantis and B. suis are subspecies of B. longum (2). Below are some evidence-based benefits of b. longum:
Immune system:
B. longum stimulates the immune system (3) and is an effective immune booster in the elderly (4).
Allergies
B. longum alleviates allergy symptoms and improves blood markers of allergy in Japanese people (5,6,7). B. longum reduces food allergy symptoms (8) and reduces allergen-induced lung inflammation (9). It also increases IgA (10) and improves Th1/Th2 balance (11). Early b. longum administration to germ-free mice prevents allergic sensitization to pollen (12)
Infections
B. longum protects mice from gut-derived sepsis (13). B. longum reduces the occurrence of the flu and fever in people with influenza vaccine (14). B. longum lessoned symptoms, reduced mortality and suppressed inflammation in the respiratory tract of influenza-infected mice (15).
Salmonella
B. longum improved survival in mice infected with salmonella (16) and increased Treg-dependent mechanisms in exposure to salmonella (17, 18).
GI Tract
B. longum ssp infantis is shown to modulate the gut microbiota and reduce endotoxins in rats (19). It also increases beneficial metabolites, such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) in rats (20)
Cognition
B. longum improved memory and learning in mice (21).
Cancer
B. longum inhibits colorectal tumors in mice and rats (22, 23). I also,
Inflammation
B. longum 1999 reduced proinflammatory markers in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, colitis, and psoriasis (24). In mice with gout, B. longum significantly decreased inflammation (25) and suppressed proinflammatory interleukin 17 cytokine production (26).
There are dozens of more benefits of b. longum including treating the skin (27, 28) liver (29), lungs (30) bones (31) and so much more it would take pages to cover the benefits reported by this bacteria.
Anxiety – The Purina study on dogs and more
There have been numerous studies on animals showing b. longum’s ability to reduce anxiety (32, 33, 34 35). B. longum does a lot, but Purina is promoting the reduction of anxiety via a proprietary strain of b. longum after a successful trial with reducing anxiety behaviors in a golden retriever. Specifically, their 2016 paper stated, “Nestlé Purina has demonstrated that anxious dogs treated with either fish oil or a proprietary B. longum are less reactive (lower cortisol), calmer (lower HR), and potentially in a better affective state (higher HRV) when experiencing anxiety-provoking stimuli than when they were treated with a placebo” (36, 37).
B. longum has been called the “Rolls Royce” of bacteria. So it is no wonder Purina is putting this into their formula. Do you need to buy kibble to receive the benefits of this bacteria? Probably not. Remember that early colonization is via breast milk. Many life exposures and lifestyle can have an impact on the number of B. longum bacteria found in the gut, from antibiotic use, to pesticide exposure, processed and monotonous diets and toxic chemicals. In contrast, fiber and prebiotics are shown to increase Bifidobacterium strains. We also know that balanced raw food with sufficient fiber results in a more diverse microbiome with more beneficial strains of bacteria over an all meat raw diet or a kibble diet (38).
PROBIOTICS
Despite beneficial outcomes of probiotics tested on animals and humans, research shows that the most probiotics or strains of bacteria mostly do not colonize or ‘reseed’ the gut but rather offer transient exposure and beneficial metabolites (39). Although, B. longum appears to be one of the few strains shown to have the ability to reseed or engraft in the host (40). A recent paper discusses the variability of b. longum’s engraftment and states, “The processes that determine which species co-exist and assemble within gut microbial ecosystems are therefore likely to be context, scale, and taxon dependent (40),” Basically that reseeding of bacterial strains is dependent on the terrain and health of the subject. Similar results are found in canine studies with other strains, where variability of probiotic engraftment is attributed to the terrain of the dog (39). Likewise, a 2011 paper identified several potential pathogenic bacteria related to canine intestinal tract, (Anaerobiospirillum spp., Bacillus cereus, Klebsiella pneumonia, Salmonella spp. and Yersinia spp.) however, many of these microbes are present in healthy dogs, indicating an amphibiosis (42) relationship that is opportunistic and dependent on the terrain and health of the host for proliferation of the bacteria (43).
PREBIOTICS
There are currently number of companies selling B. longum supplements. However, another option to increase B. longum is through prebiotics, the dietary substances such as indigestible oligosaccharides that provide a health benefit by selectively promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut. For example, Bifidobacterium likes to eat fiber and pectin and will create beneficial metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids, folate, and vitamin B12 (42, 43, 44, 45). Specifically, we know that infant strains of Bifidobacterium feed on milk oligosaccharide and adult strains of Bifidobacterium feed on plants (46).
Here is a shortlist of prebiotics our rescue uses in creating fermented food supplements:
• Inulin (sunchoke, chicory root, dandelion greens, banana, garlic)
• Fructooligosaccharides (bananas, chicory root, asparagus, jicama, sunchoke)
• Resistant Starch (cooked/cooled potato, green banana, oats)
• Pectin (apples, apricots, peaches, carrots)
• Beta-Glucans (certain mushrooms, reishi, shiitake, maitake, oats, barley)
• Xylooligosaccharides (Bamboo shoots, fruit, veg, milk, honey) * dependent on the degree of polymerization (DP), monomerics, and types of linkage (47)
Prebiotics are considered a functional food. They are the indigestible parts of food that ferments in the large colon. The fermentation process feeds the beneficial bacterial colonies, including probiotic bacteria such as Bifidobacterium. General benefits include improved intestinal microbial balance and increased diversity along with a decrease in fecal odor in dogs (39). Moreover, numerous studies show whole foods have a multitude of beneficial effects that are yet to be determined through a mechanism of action, including reduction of all-cause mortality (48).
Feeding the bacteria in the intestinal tract and results in beneficial metabolites. In a 2007 study, weanling puppies were subjected to a bacterial challenge of Salmonella Typhimurium with the experimental group given a prebiotic supplementation of fructan. The fructan group had increased fecal acetate, SCFA, and Lactobacillus spp. (beneficial bacteria) along with increased appetite over the control group (48). Another 2007 study showed significantly higher Bifidobacterium concentration in animals fed prebiotics (FOS) with cellulose than with cellulose treatment alone (49). However, limited prebiotic studies in canine research are focused on fructooligosaccharides and/or inulin, and the dogs are kibble fed (50, 51, 52).
Here is an example of how one prebiotic food is able to influence bacteria in the gut. Turkey tail mushroom is shown to enhance beneficial bacteria in the GI tract, such as Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, while suppressing inflammatory species, such as, Staphylococcus, Clostridium, and Enterococcus (53) In general, medicinal mushroom polysaccharides have a chemical composition belonging to the group of b-glucans (beta glucans) that feed beneficial bacteria such as Bifidobacterium (54).
There are numerous ways to obtain prebiotics, with a little knowledge, rotating naturally occurring forms of these prebiotics can offer food for the bacteria in the gut along with nutrients, information and contributing to the diversity of the microbiome (Diverse microbiome: https://www.facebook.com/PawsitivelyPrimal/videos/1619908298154017/
SYNBIOTICS:
Synbiotics is the administration of a prebiotic (indigestible food) along with a probiotic (living bacterial strain) to benefit the microbiome. Human and animal studies are promising, but there are limited studies of symbiotic supplements in dogs (42). But the few studies that were conducted are promising, For example. Two
Because of limited evidence in reseeding of probiotics, it is speculated that symbiotic treatment (administration of prebiotic and probiotic) may enhance probiotic performance (42).
Summary of three ways to increase the probiotic, b. longum:
1. Probiotic supplementation. Probiotics are live microorganisms that are bacteria or yeast. They are available as food supplements containing live cultures such as kefir or sauerkraut or can be purchased in a pill form. There is controversy in the content of supplements so finding a reputable 3rd party-tested product would be significant. Probiotics also transferred through fecal microbiota transplants.
2. Prebiotics are non-living, non-digestible by human and animals ingredients of carbohydrates. These are served as food for the beneficial bacteria in the gut. These include inulin, FOS, XOS, RS, Pectin, MOS, beta-glucans, etc. and can be found in foods such as chicory root, sunchoke, dandelions, etc.,
3. Synbionts is feeding the combination of probiotics with prebiotics to ensure the best case of engraftment. Our Rescue does a combination of Prebiotics and synbiotics depending on the condition we are working with.
Considerations
Finally, probiotics, such as B. longum should not be used with active intestinal permeability (leaky gut) until steps are taken to resolve tight junctions and increase the mucin layer. Also, it is generally accepted that probiotics are harmless, but like nutrients given in isolation, they may cause issues within the delicate microbial ecosystem. For example, studies are now emerging that over-supplementation of probiotics in isolation may be contributing to chronic diseases such as fibromyalgia and Chrons. Dosage would be titered up slowly based on the size of the dog.
References:
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