Experimental modulation of cancer risk factors by prebiotic oligofructose enriched inulin (Synergy1) is confirmed in human volunteers

Aim To verify whether the earlier experimentally observed suppression of carcinogenesis by food ingredients that induce prebiotic action (1) in the colon, also is valid for the human consumer. Methods Oligofructose enriched inulin (Synergy1) and the bacteria LGG and BB12 were used to induce prebiotic activity in Colon cancer and Polypectomized subjects during a 12‐week randomized, double‐blind placebo controlled trial. Results and discussion The compounds were fed separately to a chemopre‐vention rat model. It was observed that the prebiotics and the synbiotic, but not the probiotics used reduced tumour incidence. The effect was correlated with stimulated GALT and increased SCFA (butyrate) production (2). HUMAN DATA : Synbiotic consumption increased faecal bifidobacteria and lactobacilli and decreased coliforms and C. perfringens (3). Synbiotic consumption reduced the proliferative activity in the colonic mucosa of polyp subjects. In cancer placebo subjects genotoxic damage increased but was unchanged in synbiotic subjects. The genotoxic potential of FW was increased although not significantly (p=0.054) in placebo polyp subjects but not in synbiotic subjects. The tumour promoting potential of FW was unaltered, however FW from polyp subjects improved tight junction integrity compared to FW from cancer subjects. IFN‐γ production increased in synbiotic cancer subjects and IL‐2 decreased in polyp placebo subjects.