The Prebiotic Effects Of Dietary Jerusalem Artichoke (Kaentawan) In Healthy Thai Adults

Jerusalem artichoke or "kaentawan" (Helianthus tuberosus L.) is a wild relative of the cultivated sunflower that has recently experienced an upsurge of interest as a source of prebiotics. The polysaccharides in kaentawan (fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) and inulin) are rich and could have the potential for use as a health-promoting dietary supplement (prebiotic) that modulates intestinal pathogens by increasing the amount of the probiotics. Reports on the prebiotic effect of dietary kaentawan in healthy Thai adults have hardly been found recently. Therefore, the present study aims to determine the prebiotic effect of kaentawan consumption in 90 healthy Thai subjects. The amounts of probiotics from their feces were used as an indicator. The subjects were randomly assigned into 3 groups as follows: the 1st group was normal consumption, the 2nd group was 85 grams of fresh kaentawan consumption per day, and the 3nd group was commercial 10 grams of inulin and 5 grams of FOS consumption per day. The amounts of probiotic bacteria, Bifidobacterium spp. and Lactobacillus spp., were enumerated from each subject's feces 6 times using the real-time polymerase chain reaction technique. The results showed that the amount of probiotics in the feces of subjects who consumed fresh kaentawan had significantly increased (P<0.05) compared to the subjects who had a normal consumption. There was no significant difference of probiotic amounts between the subjects who consumed commercial prebiotics and those who consumed fresh kaentawan. These results reveal that kaentawan can be used as a prebiotic and promoted to replace imported commercial prebiotics.