A research group of Assistant Professor Sayaka Katagiri and Associate Professor Haruka Tohara of Tokyo Medical and Dental University proved the importance of oral intake from a bacteriological point of view.The importance of swallowing training was demonstrated from a bacteriological point of view.
After a stroke, it becomes impossible to take nutrition by mouth (oral nutrition), and many patients end up with direct infusion of nutrition by tube or catheter (tube feeding).However, by performing swallowing training to chew and swallow as rehabilitation, in many cases, it becomes possible to take food again by mouth.Swallowing may cause food, saliva, and oral bacteria to flow into the intestinal tract and affect the intestinal flora, but details were unknown.Therefore, the research group bacteriologically investigated the relationship between the reacquisition of oral nutrition and the oral and intestinal flora.
The subjects of the study were eight patients who received tube feeding when their condition after stroke became stable, and then received oral intake training after receiving swallowing training.Saliva and stool are collected during tube feeding before feeding and swallowing training and after oral feeding by training.Bacterial species of the oral and intestinal flora, the correlation between bacterial species, and the predicted function (functional gene) of the bacterial flora were analyzed.
As a result, the reacquisition of oral nutrition increased the diversity of the oral and intestinal flora and changed the composition of the flora.In addition, the amount of certain bacteria increased in the oral cavity and intestines after resuming oral food intake.In addition, the network structure showing the correlation between bacteria also changed so that many bacteria were involved in one network in the oral cavity and the intestine after the reacquisition of oral nutrition.Function prediction analysis revealed that there are metabolic pathways that can be expressed during oral feeding rather than tube feeding.
This time, the importance of reacquisition of oral nutrition to general health is clarified, and it is expected that the research results will be useful for improving medical care in the future.
Paper information:[Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology] Re-initiation of oral food intake following enteral nutrition alters oral and gut microbiota communities
