Growth and survival of Bifidobacterium breve and Bifidobacterium longum in various sugar systems with fructooligosaccharide supplementation

This study aims to investigate the effect of fructooligosaccharide (FOS) (0.5, 1, 2, 3, and 4%) supplementation on the growth and survival of Bifidobacterium breve and Bifidobacterium longum in glucose, fructose, lactose, and sucrose (2, 3, and 4%) systems with 24-h growth and 10-day survival assays at 37 °C. FOS supplementation showed a higher growth-promoting effect on B. longum than B. breve in various sugar systems. The highest percentage of increase in growth index, 78.5%, was observed with 4% sucrose supplemented with 0.5% FOS in B. longum. In comparison, the highest percentage increase in growth index, 5.6 and 6.6%, was observed in the presence of 2% glucose and 4% lactose supplemented with 0.5% FOS in B. breve. In survival assay, FOS supplementation (0.5–4%) in a 2% lactose system showed the highest positive effect on the cell viability of B. longum on day-10. As for B. breve, FOS supplementation (1 and 2%) in the 2% sucrose system showed the highest positive effect on the cell viability, followed by FOS supplementation (0.5, 3, and 4%) in 2% sucrose and FOS supplementation (3 and 4%) in 2% lactose on day-10. This study demonstrated that the efficacy of FOS supplementation was depended on its concentration, sugar system and its concentration, and Bifidobacterium strain.