Improvement of nutritional status and incidence of infection in hospitalised, enterally fed elderly by feeding of fermented milk containing probiotic Lactobacillus johnsonii La1 (NCC533)

Probiotics have potential to improve host immunity; however, there is less evidence showing their efficacy against infections and nutritional status in the elderly. We conducted a double-blinded feeding trial in the elderly to elucidate the effect of fermented milk containing Lactobacillus johnsonii La1 (LC1®) on infections and nutritional status. Twenty-four completely enterally fed elderly in-patients aged over 70 years were randomly assigned into two groups. All subjects were administered 3768 kJ (900 kcal)/d of total enteral nutrition (EN) through tube feeding for 12 weeks. Subjects in the LC1 group were administered 373 kJ (89 kcal)/d of LC1 fermented milk after feeding of 3395 kJ (811 kcal)/d of EN for 12 weeks. In the control group, 373 kJ/d of the same EN was replaced from the fermented milk. In the LC1 group, the percentage of days with infections during the run-in observation period was 15·4 (sd 17·3) %, which significantly decreased to 5·7 (sd 8·1) % during the intervention period (P = 0·018), and the reduction was larger than that of the control group (P = 0·047). Blood Hb increased (P