Postprandial glycemia in healthy subjects: Which probiotic dairy food is more adequate?

The consumption of probiotic-enriched dairy products has been associated with many health benefits, including anti-hyperglycemic activity. The effect on health is dependent on the type of probiotic culture used and the dairy product consumed. This study evaluated the effect of different probiotic-enriched dairy matrices (Minas Frescal cheese, Prato cheese, and whey dairy beverage) containing Lactobacillus casei on in vitro and in vivo anti-hyperglycemic activity. For this purpose, in vitro anti-hyperglycemic activity was determined by the inhibition of α-glucosidase and α-amylase activities, and a human study was performed with healthy individuals (n = 15, consumption of bread as a control; bread + Minas Frescal cheese; bread + Prato cheese; bread + dairy beverage) to assess the effects of different probiotic foods on postprandial glycemia. In vitro data showed that Prato cheese presented the highest lipid (36.9 g/100 g) and protein (26.5 g/100 g) contents as well as the highest α-amylase (60.7%) and α-glucosidase (52.6%) inhibition. The consumption of Prato cheese resulted in a lesser increase in blood glucose level (13 mg/dL) compared with the consumption of bread alone (19 mg/dL), Minas Frescal cheese (20 mg/dL), and whey dairy beverage (30 mg/dL), with glycemic indices similar to that observed for the control. The present results demonstrated a good correlation between in vitro and in vivo data, in which the type of dairy matrix affects the anti-hyperglycemic activity. It is concluded that the consumption of probiotic Prato cheese can contribute to the reduction of postprandial glycemia in healthy individuals.

Low efficacy of atopy patch test in predicting tolerance development in non-IgE-mediated cow's milk allergy.

BACKGROUND: The food atopy patch (APT) test has been used in previous studies to help the diagnosis of non-IgE mediated food allergies (FA). The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of different cow's milk APT preparations to predict oral tolerance in children with previous non-IgE-mediated cow's milk allergy (CMA) diagnosis. METHODS: Thirty-two patients non-IgE-mediated CMA diagnosed by oral food challenge (OFC) were enrolled to perform APT with three different cow's milk preparations (fresh, 2% in saline solution, 2% in petrolatum) and comparing with a new OFC after at least three months of diet exclusion. RESULTS: Only six (18.7%) subjects presented positive OFC to cow's milk. No differences in gender, onset symptoms age, OFC age, Z-score, and exclusion period were found between positive and negative OFC patients. Preparations using fresh milk and powdered milk in petrolatum presented sensitivity equal to zero and specificity 92.3% and 96.1%. The preparation using powdered milk in saline solution showed sensitivity and specificity of 33.3% and 96.1%. Two patients presented typical IgE symptoms after OFC. CONCLUSION: Cow's milk APT presented a low efficacy to predict tolerance in patients with previous non-IgE-mediated CMA and should not be used in clinical routine. The presence of typical IgE reactions after OFC hallmark the necessity of previous IgE-mediated investigation for this patient group.