Effect of yogurt fermented with Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus OLL1073R-1 and Streptococcus thermophilus OLS3059 on the physical condition of elementary school students: a large-scale, non-randomized, open-labelled, crossover trial
摘要
Preventing the onset of cold among school children is essential for maintaining public health in both schools and households. We investigated the effect of yogurt fermented with Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus OLL1073R-1 (OLL1073R-1) and Streptococcus thermophilus OLS3059 (OLS3059) in improving physical health in elementary school students. This non-randomized, non-ingestion control, open-label, two-sequence crossover trial involved students of six Japanese public elementary schools (n = 2317). The participants consumed test yogurt during the intervention term and received no intervention during the control term. The effect of yogurt consumption on student absenteeism owing to cold symptoms was determined, and the physical condition was evaluated using a questionnaire. The number of absent students was not significantly different between the terms (p = 0.507), whereas the cumulative days of absent significantly decreased in the intervention term (p = 0.048). Subgroup analysis of the absent students showed that the number of absent days significantly decreased following the intervention (p = 0.035). Changes in the physical condition score showed that sleep quality (p < 0.001 for summary score), cold symptoms (p = 0.001 for summary score), and quality of life (p = 0.001 for summary score) significantly improved after the intervention. Consuming yogurt fermented with OLL1073R-1 and OLS3059 has potential implications in improving the students’ health via a decrease in the number of absent days and improvement of physical conditions (Trial registration number: UMIN000048908, registration date: September 11, 2022).