Synbiotic Yogurt increases calcium absorption in Young Adult Women, Study finds

In adult women, short-term daily ingestion of a synbiotic yogurt increased calcium absorption compared to a control yogurt, says an article published in The Journal of Nutrition on 12th April, 2022.

Foods that include both probiotics (synbiotics) and prebiotics may improve calcium absorption. As a result, Rafael Cornes and colleagues undertook this study to assess the acute effect on calcium absorption in young adult women of consuming (185 mL) a synbiotic (SYN) containing inulin (4g) and Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (>1 107/CFU/mL) compared to a control (CON) yogurt.

For this study adult women with normal weight (25.0 3.5 y, n = 30) took part in a 3-week cross-over research comparing SYN against CON intake on a daily basis. At baseline, dietary habits, bone mineral density (BMD), calcium biomarkers, and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] were all examined. Calcium absorption was measured using a 42Ca oral tracer following each step of the investigation. Cumulative tracer recovery was assessed in urine pools taken 0–4h, 0–24h, and 0–36h after treatment. The key result was the SYN/CON tracer ratio from the timed-urine-pools. A favorable response to SYN was characterized as a SYN/CON tracer ratio greater than one from 0 to 36 hours.

The key findings of this study were as follow:

1. Net 42Ca recovered increased with time in both the SYN and CON urine pools after dosing (Friedman, P 0.001), with a trend for higher 42Ca restoration in the 0–36 hours urine pool post-dosing in the SYN (1.14%) study compared to the CON (0.90%).

2. The bulk of total tracer (86 percent) was retrieved in the 0–24 hours pool for CON, but only 50 % of total tracer was retrieved in the 0–24h pool for SYN.

3. In the 0–36h pool, the SYN/CON tracer ratio (1.24) was more than one.

4. Approximately two-thirds (n = 19) of the women investigated responded to the SYN therapy.

5. Responders consumed more vegetables (P = 0.03), tended to consume more potassium and calcium (P = 0.08), and also had higher overall body BMD (P = 0.09) than non-responders.

In conclusion, given the observed temporal delays in tracer recovery, calcium absorption was most likely enhanced in the large intestine.

Reference:

Cornes, R., Sintes, C., Peña, A., Albin, S., O'Brien, K. O., Abrams, S. A., & Donangelo, C. M. (2022). Daily Intake of a Functional Synbiotic Yogurt Increases Calcium Absorption in Young Adult Women. In The Journal of Nutrition. Oxford University Press (OUP). https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/nxac088