Nutrient composition of probiotics and a survey of their use in zoological institutions
Citation
Cersosimo LM, Sullivan KE, Livingston S, and Valdes EV. 2019. Nutrient composition of probiotics and a survey of their use in zoological institutions. In Brooks M, Freel T, Koutsos E Eds. Proceedings of the Thirteenth Conference on Zoo and Wildlife Nutrition, Zoo and Wildlife Nutrition Foundation and AZA Nutrition Advisory Group, Saint Louis, MO.
Abstract
Probiotics are live microbiota, typically lactic acid bacteria and yeast, that when provided in sufficient quantities have a health benefit on the host (World Health Organization). Probiotics are generally regarded as safe and approval by the Food and Drug Administration is not required. Typical characteristics of probiotics include the ability to survive production (e.g. heat stable) and the gastrointestinal tract environment, produce inhibitory metabolites, and adhere to the intestinal cell membrane (Smith, 2014). Several studies have identified potential probiotics isolated from animals including dogs, giant panda, and non-human primates (Strompfová et al., 2013; Liu et al. 2017; Tsuchida et al., 2018); however, little is known about their use in zoological institutions. Probiotics are commonly supplemented for the maintenance of gut health, treatment of chronic or infectious diarrhea, and the prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhea. Labels of probiotic products consistently include a list of ingredients and the number of colony forming units (CFU) per dose, but the actual nutrient composition is unknown. The main objectives of our study were to 1) identify the nutrient content and quantify the total number of CFU per gram of commercially available probiotic products and 2) use survey results to determine the status of gut health and probiotic use across zoological institutions.
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