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Improvement Effects of Galactosylsucrose Ingestionon Defecation of Senile Patients Living in the Nursing Facility

Kyoko OHIKE1*, ToshiharuMIYAI2, Masanori AKIBA2 and MidoriYAMAMOTO3

1National Hospital Organization Osaka Minami MedicalCenter
2H+B Life Science Co.,Ltd. Product DevelopmentDepartment
3Midori Planning of Food & Health

 The effects of a daily ingestion for 4 consecutiveweeks of roasted tea containing 3g of galactosylsucrose (LS) ondefecation were examined in 134 senile patients (3O males and 104females with an average age of 82.0 years) Iiving in a nursingfacility. The 8-week experiment was divided into 4 consecutiveperiods: pre-ingestion period (2 weeks), ingestion period I (2weeks), ingestion period 2 (2weeks) and post-ingestion period (2weeks). During the LS ingestion period, defecation frequency andtiming from 5.5 to 6.1 times per week (p<0.05) and from 3.7 to4.1 days per week (p<0.01), respectively, as compared topre-ingestion period. We investigated the influence of laxativesadministration by dividing patients into 4 groups: Group I withpatients who took a combination of a stimulating laxative and asaline laxative as a magnesium oxide, Group II where only astimulating laxative was taken, GroupIII with patients on salinelaxative, and GrouplV with no laxatives at all. Consequently wefound that LS ingestion increased significantly(p<0.05)defecation frequency in group I and nl patients who took salinelaxative, from 5.0 to 6.3 times per week and from 5.7 to 7.1 timesper week, respectively, as compared to pre-ingestion period.Additionally, the effects of daily activity level were investigatedby dividing the patients into 5 groups. Throughout the experiment,we found that defecation significantly increased (p<0.01) from3.1 to 3.7 days per week as compared to pre-ingestion period,especially in the group of patients who have a daily activity indexof 1.1 (bedridden).
 These results demonstrated that the ingestion of a roasted teacontaining 3g of LS in a day improved defecation in senile patientswith constipation. They may suggest the possibility that LS couldcontribute to the improvement of QOL in the patients and reduce theburden of care workers.

Key words: galactosylsucrose, senile patients, Nursing facility,constipation, Iaxatives administration, daily activity

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