International Journal of Fermented Foods

Human intervention studies are a requisite to justify prophylactic and therapeutic effects of probiotics. A Lactic Acid Bacterial (LAB) isolate obtained from chilli pickle has been identified as Pediococcus acidilactici MTCC5101 based on 16S rRNA gene sequence. It is a bile tolerant strain which produces Pediocin CP2 with a wide antibacterial range. Present study is focused on evaluation of probiotic potential of P. acidilactici MTCC5101 and its colonization in human gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Further in a pilot scale pre-clinical trial among 30 young anemic women, role of P. acidilactici MTCC5101 along with another probiotic Bacillus coagulans MTCC492 was assessed in absorption of therapeutic iron salt in human GI tract.

In vitro adhesion assay of P. acidilactici MTCC5101 using Caco-2 cells confirmed the adherence of strain to intestinal epithelial cells. Results of in vivo analysis for molecular identification of strain in fecal samples of volunteers coincide with the in vitro findings. The strain was found to be capable of colonizing the GI tract after 4 weeks of oral consumption. Hemoglobin analysis of 4 week pilot study on anemic females showed that the supplementation of iron salt along with the probiotic mixture improved iron absorption in this group as compared to other two groups. Group III showed an average increase of 2.25±0.6 gm/dL in Hb level as compared to 1.56±0.9 gm/dl in Group I and 1.65±0.4 gm/dl in Group II. The present study confirmed the probiotic potential of P. acidilactici MTCC5101 and Bacillus coagulans MTCC492 with applications in food industry.