Effect of potentially probiotic lactobacilli on faecal enzyme activity in minipigs on a high-fat, high-cholesterol diet-a preliminary in vivo trial.

Minipigs were fed a "Western-style", high-cholesterol diet for a baseline period, followed by the diet containing a mixture of three Lactobacillus strains with potential probiotic features, after which a normal pig diet was followed. The faecal enzyme activity for beta-glucuronidase and azoreductase, which are commonly considered as markers for procarcinogenic activity, was significantly reduced during the 5 weeks of "probiotic" supplementation. During the period of Lactobacillus administration, the cell counts for total anaerobes increased, whereas the total number of aerobes showed no change.