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Content source: On June 25, 2024, Li Xin, Senior Nutrition Scientist of ADM at ADM, gave a speech entitled "ADM's new generation of probiotic Bacillus subtilis DE111, opening a new era of gut, immunity and metabolic health" at the FBIF2024 Functional and Ingredients Sub-forum.
A "old" bacterium that has gone through more than a century, DE111 (Bacillus subtilis), has been officially approved for marketing by the National Health Commission. Compared to other general live probiotics, DE111 is not squeamish, can maintain activity under harsh conditions such as temperatures up to 100°C and acidic stomach environment, and can overcome the limitations of dosage form to exert effects on gut, immune, cardiovascular and sports performance. This fully verified "old" fungus is about to burst out in the Chinese market and open more innovative boxes!
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Xin Li, Senior Nutrition Scientist, ADM
Xin Li, Senior Nutrition Scientist, AD
1. Seven characteristics of DE111
Today's presentation is the Bacillus subtilis DE111 strain. First, I will introduce the characteristics of the DE111 strain and some of the results of clinical studies. It is worth mentioning that on February 29, 2024, DE111 was approved by the National Health Commission as a "three new" food. This means that DE111 can be used in a variety of common foods, but not infant foods.
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Bacillus is a probiotic that is different from bifidobacteria and lactobacillus. What makes it special is that it has a layer of spores, which makes it more resistant to environmental changes such as wind and rain in nature. Therefore, Bacillus is more stable than LAB (lactic acid bacteria). When it reaches an environment suitable for growth, such as the small intestine of the human body, it sprouts, bringing health benefits to the human body. Here are a few points to introduce the characteristics of DE111:
The first characteristic is that it is facultative anaerobe, that is, it can survive in an aerobic or anaerobic environment. Unlike ordinary LAB (anaerobic bacteria), facultative anaerobes have more flexible living conditions in the human intestine. The combination of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria often produces some beneficial synergies that help in the growth of both parties.
The second feature is its ability to produce a variety of enzymes, especially proteases. This not only explains the survival properties of Bacillus subtilis, but also shows that it has multiple health benefits for humans. We currently speculate that some of these enzyme lines may play an important role in the health benefits.
Third, some experiments in vitro will find that DE111 can produce some bacteriocin or antibacterial active compounds, and in vitro can produce some inhibitory effects on more harmful bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella enteritidis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans, which is also a sign that it was screened as a probiotic in the early stage.
DE111 is actually somewhat similar to LAB in that it also produces short-chain fatty acids under aerobic conditions. As Dr. Wang mentioned earlier, short-chain fatty acids are the common basis for the health effects of many probiotics. The DE111 exhibits a similar effect. For example, if you eat DE111, it can improve the bifidobacteria in the intestines, which can be understood as eating one good bacteria and ensuring the growth of another good bacteria, which is a synergistic effect.
Fourth, it is well tolerated. We compared DE111 to the well-known bacillus coagulans. In the case of simulating human gastric juice or intestinal juice, the survival rate of DE111 in vitro will actually be better than that of Bacillus coagulans, and the survival rate will be higher. DE111 has a sporous protective effect in vitro, so it has certain application advantages compared with traditional LAB in some beverage and food processing processes that require high-temperature and high-pressure processing. DE111 will gradually germinate in the small intestine of the human body. Despite being in a spore state at the time of ingestion, it can tolerate the challenge of acids and bile salts in the upper gastrointestinal tract and survive. After about two hours, DE111 began to germinate, and the whole process lasted about 8 hours. At 8 hours, DE111 reaches a stable state and colonizes the intestine.
2. Health effects of DE111
(1) DE111™ study on gut health
For some occasional constipation or diarrhea, DE111 can improve the shape of human stool. The Bristol fecal chart is also relatively clear, and the above 1 and 2 are understood as constipation, and the person's bowel movement is very bad. The following 5, 6, and 7 understand that adults are in a state of diarrhea, and the feeling of bowel movement is not good. The best state is actually the fourth one, which we call banana stool, which is moderately soft and hard, has a good bowel sensation, and is very fast. The DE111 and placebo groups had approximately 90 days of intervention. At the end of the day, the proportion of dry and loose stools will decrease, and the proportion of people who pass banana stool will increase from 37% to 43%, which means that DE111 has a good effect on improving the physical sensation or shape of human defecation.
Bristol feces chart
(2) DE111™ Research on exercise health
Female athletes in the United States University League were used as test subjects. After exercise, there was no material basis for the intervention of probiotics alone, so DE111 was used in combination with sports drinks to measure some physical indicators of female athletes. For example, the body fat percentage, athletic performance, muscle strength of the lower limbs, etc. Among the results of numerous studies, we have found that it is beneficial to reduce the body fat percentage of female athletes, and to some extent, it helps to improve the athletic performance of female athletes. However, for some more professional specific sports segments, no particularly big differences were found.
The second is a study of male baseball players in Collegiate League of United States. The second study involved male baseball players in Collegiate League of United States. Baseball requires athletes to achieve a high degree of consistency in physical strength and mental concentration, which means that the requirements for the mental quality of athletes will be high. For example, when a ball is thrown, he is unsteady in his hand, and his mental state is stable and unstable, which will directly affect whether the player can hit or his performance the next time.
The results of this experiment are also consistent with the female athletes above, the only difference is that some indicators related to the athlete's psychology will be observed, such as cortisol hormone levels, tumor necrosis factor, etc. It can be understood as whether athletes can achieve better athletic performance by reducing their psychological stress levels after eating DE111.
(3) DE111™ Research on Children's Health
The third is the study of DE111 for children's health, and ADM has also done two experiments. Children aged 2-6 years old were given DE111, and the diversity of intestinal flora in the children's feces was measured after eating. The diversity of intestinal flora in the human body is an important indicator of the health of the human intestinal microbiota. The richer the diversity of the flora in a person's intestine, the better the ecological balance in the intestine, which will produce mutual nourishment between good bacteria, or produce the inhibitory effect of good bacteria on bad bacteria, which will have better benefits in vitamin synthesis. After eating DE111, children can greatly promote the diversity of intestinal flora and promote the proportion of beneficial bacteria in the intestine.
The second is an experiment in children, focusing on the effects of DE111 on intestinal and respiratory tract infections in children. Studies have shown that DE111 has a significant improvement effect on intestinal discomfort in children, such as intestinal flatulence, belching, vomiting and constipation, compared with the placebo group.
(4) DE111™ research on immune health
The effect of DE111 on human immune health will be involved in various effects in a variety of people, and there are many indicators to observe. DE111 is more complex from the perspective of immunity. To put it simply, in the absence of special immune inflammatory stress in the human body, it will keep the level of human immune cells in a relatively low and inactive state. Once a person has a low-density or medium-high density inflammatory response, DE111 can promote the performance of immunity. My understanding of it is called "when it is strong, it is strong, and when it is weak, it is not weak". DE111 can regulate the human body more intelligently, not to blindly improve immunity, or blindly reduce immunity. However, this mechanism is only an observational result, and there is no mechanism for elaboration.
(5) DE111™ research on metabolic health
Finally, there is the role of DE111 in metabolism. Supplementation of DE111 can better regulate blood glucose and blood lipid levels in the human body, mainly for postprandial blood glucose, triglycerides and total blood cholesterol levels.
The last one is the experimental results of blood lipids and vascular endothelium, which involves total cholesterol, DE111 can reduce the total cholesterol level and non-HDL lipoprotein in people, DE111 has a lowering effect on all low-density lipoproteins or medium and high density lipoproteins, showing obvious lipid protection effect.
There is also a reactive congestion index (RHI), which is actually an index in the field of heart disease. It can be understood as whether the blood vessels can recover or bounce back quickly when they are compressed. The higher this index, the healthier the state of the blood vessels, the better the toughness when it is squeezed or stressed, and it is easy to return to the normal state of the human body.
Finally, the article suggests that the protective effect of DE111 in the cardiovascular system may be related to the production of various short-chain fatty acids, not only acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, but also molecular weight or some short-chain fatty acids with longer carbon chains.
3. DE111 food application concept
Finally, the application of DE111 in the food field is introduced. This strain is relatively new in China. In the United States, DE111 has been used in food, beverages, functional foods and health foods. Amazon or foreign shopping sites have many products that add DE111.
In China, the role of DE111 in digestion and immunity is still the main promotion. DE111 is Bacillus subtilis, which has protection on the outside, so it has good application stability in yogurt food or beverages, and it has certain application advantages in product application compared with traditional LAB. Here are three concepts:
(1) Direct drinking powder of probiotics
DE111 and postbiotics are used, which is equivalent to the combination of DE111 and postbiotic BPL1™ to control the body's metabolism.
(2) Probiotic gummies
ADM customers and friends have performed very well in selling DE111-added gummies on Amazon. This demonstrates the advantages of DE111 as a spore because, unlike LAB, DE111 does not require crystal ball treatment and has good heat resistance and operational stability.
(3) Probiotic sparkling drink with meals
It is fortified with the probiotic DE111, the postbiotic HT ES1, and the prebiotic Fibersol-2 from ADM. It focuses on probiotics, postbiotics and prebiotics, which are mainly used to regulate the gastrointestinal tract or support immunity.
4. On-site Q&A
Question: Hello Dr. Li, this strain DE111, why can it improve intestinal constipation?
Li Xin: This is a question of mechanism, right?
Question: Right.
Li Xin: Our clinical research is an observational study, and if we want to do evidence-based now, we need to find a causal relationship. But now, as far as I know, maybe like our friend Dr. Hui Ying has done a lot of causal research, ADM can only do some speculation now. For example, DE111 can produce short-chain fatty acids, which can promote the synthesis of other bacteria in the intestine, including acidic substances, which can also promote intestinal peristalsis. We need to further explore the specific mechanisms or mechanisms.
Question: Hello, does this strain have to have an independent workshop in production?
Li Xin: Yes, Bacillus does face a collinear problem when it is produced. Considering the characteristics and characteristics of this bacterium, we do not recommend it to be co-produced with other LABs.
Question: I have one more detailed question. For example, if I have a separate workshop for the production of Bacillus coagulans, should it also be separated from DE111? I can't produce DE111 in the same workshop where Bacillus coagulans is produced?
Li Xin: There is no official data on ADM yet, but I listened to a verbal sharing from a foreign colleague, and it seems that collinear is not recommended.
Question: Do you want to be completely independent?
Li Xin: Specifically, we can discuss further, but this is not yet a conclusive question.
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