Assessment of two Types of gum Arabic as Prebiotic

Abstract

This study was carried out to explore prebiotic effects of two types of gum Arabic on beneficial bacterial groups in intestine of rats and in stimulating Bifidobacterium longum BB536 growth in peanut milk. Gum Arabic Acacia senegal gum “Hashab”, and Acacia seyal gum “Taleh” were used in this study. Fourty male Albino rats were acclimatized for two weeks to experimental conditions and randomly assigned into five groups. The control group (n=8) received normal rat diet. Other rats groups received normal rat diets partially substituted with wheat bran (n=8) , gum -Acacia senegal (n=8), Gum Acacia seyal(n=8) , and a mix of gum (n=8) . The experimental trials were extended for a period of 6 weeks. Peanut milk was prepared by roasting the seeds at 130°C for 20 min and soaking in water (12 h), then blending for 5min before filtering to obtain the milk. The milk was sterilized and supplemented with different types of gum Arabic and then inoculated by 3% active B. longum BB536 culture to produce the fermented peanut milk. General health of rats indicated significant (p< 0.05) differences in feed intake, the weight gain and water consumption between five groups of rats. However, there were no blood hematology abnormalities and no signs of any moderate and mild deficiencies of nutrients as revealed by results on blood biochemistry. Enzymes of liver such as serum ALT, AST, and ALP of fed rats groups were within the standard normal range of rats. Feeding with Acacia senegal and mix gum had induced significant (P <0.05) increases of bifidobacteria in ceacum of rats. Where as Lactobacillus significantly (P <0.05) increased in ceacum and colon of all rats groups as compared with the control. In addition, there were noticeable significant (P <0.05) decreases in pathogenic bacteria, Salmonella, Staphylococcus, Enterocuccus and Enterobacteriaceae in ceacum and colon of rats groups in comparison to control. There were significant (P <0.05) increases in viable count of strain BB 536 by extended fermentation period in four types of formulated beverages as compared to strain level at the beginning of fermentation. The maximum number of strain BB 536 in all beverages was more than 6 log cfu/ml fulfilling the minimum number required to presence in probiotics foods to exert health benefits. During the refrigeration storage of different formulated beverages, there were significant (p<0.05) reduction in B. longum BB536 viable count pH, TSS, and total sugars in the two weeks storage of all fermented beverages. Overall acceptability of different strain BB 536 fermented peanut milks affirmed that panelists mostly preferred peanut milk containing Acacia senegal gum followed by the control and then the milk with mix gum. Therefore, two types of gum Arabic and their mix exerted a prebiotic effect both in IN VIVO (stimulated beneficial bacteria and suppressed pathogenic ones in rats) and in IN VITRO (stimulating growth of strain BB 536), thus are useful for synibiotic (probiotic and perbiotic in same product) application into non- dairy products as functional foods.