First, prepared is a whey degradation medium to which a protease, yeast extract, and the like are added. Further, polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate or propylene glycol monooleate is added to the whey degradation medium. The whey degradation medium is inoculated with bacteriocin-producing lactic acid bacterium and the lactic acid bacterium is cultured while the whey degradation medium is maintained at pH of 4 to 5. After the completion of the culture, the whey degradation medium (culture solution) is centrifuged to thereby separate therefrom a concentrated cell suspension containing the lactic acid bacterium in a concentrated form. The concentrated cell suspension has very low antibacterial activity (several tens AU or less). Then, by adding the concentrated cell suspension to a yogurt mix and fermenting the same, it is possible to produce yogurt containing the bacteriocin-producing lactic acid bacterium without any delay in the fermentation.

The present invention provides lactic acid bacteria which are suitable for use for dietary products and pharmaceuticals, and which can suppress the increase of blood uric acid level.

Various types of lactic acid bacteria were cultured in the presence of a purine, the amount of the purine consumed and the amount of purine degradation products produced were measured, and several lactic acid bacteria showing remarkable purine-decomposing ability were selected. Lactic acid bacteria that were assessed to have high purine-decomposing ability according to the above-mentioned selection were orally administered to rats reared on purine-containing feed, the general status and serum uric acid level of the rats were measured, and the effect of lactic acid bacteria administration on serum uric acid levels was examined. As a result, lactic acid bacteria that significantly suppress the increase of serum uric acid levels, Lactobacillus gasseri OLL2922, were found.

Disclosed is an agent for accelerating the increase in and/or preventing the decrease in the blood adiponectin level, or a food, beverage or animal feed for accelerating the increase in and/or preventing the decrease in the blood adiponectin level, which comprises a culture or cell of a lactic acid bacterium belonging to the genus Lactobacillus, particularly Lactobacillus gasseri or Lactobacillus helveticus as an active ingredient. Also disclosed is a visceral fat accumulation inhibitor or a food or beverage for inhibiting the accumulation of a visceral fat, which comprises a culture or cell of Lactobacillus helveticus as an active ingredient.

By adding a viable lactic acid bacterium to a fat or oil composition, the present invention has succeeded in producing a lactic acid bacterium-containing fat or oil composition that has a high viability of the lactic acid bacterium and an excellent resistance to acids. By adding lactic acid bacteria powder or a chocolate with a high lactic acid bacterium concentration to a chocolate dough after tempering and before molding, moreover, the present invention has succeeded in producing a lactic acid bacterium-containing chocolate including a viable lactic acid bacterium by a simple producing method. Thus, provided is a lactic acid bacterium-containing chocolate with high palatability that contains a viable lactic acid bacterium.

The present invention relates to a composition exhibiting a bile-salt hydrolase activity for its use for the treatment or the prevention of giardiasis, said composition comprising a bile-salt hydrolase (BSH) enzyme, a bacterium able to secrete a BSH, a recombinant host cell able to secrete a BSH, or a combination thereof. The present invention also relates to the use of a composition exhibiting a BSH activity for the treatment or the prevention of giardiasis, and to a pharmaceutical composition or a food composition comprising, as an active principle, a BSH, a lactic acid bacterium able to secrete a BSH, or a recombinant host cell able to secrete a BSH.

Protein in an aqueous whey solution is degraded by adding a protease to the aqueous whey solution. After that, a whey degradation medium is prepared by adding yeast extract or the like to the aqueous whey solution. The whey degradation medium is inoculated with bacteriocin-producing lactic acid bacterium and the lactic acid bacterium is cultured while the whey degradation medium is maintained at pH of not lower than 5 and not higher than 6. After the completion of the culture, the whey degradation medium (culture solution) is centrifuged to thereby separate a concentrated cell suspension containing the lactic acid bacterium in a concentrated form. The concentrated cell suspension has extremely high antibacterial activity (several tens of thousands AU) and is usable as a food preservative. Further, yogurt is produced by fermenting a yogurt mix to which 0.01% to 0.1% by weight of the concentrated cell suspension is added. With this process, it is possible to suppress an increase in the acidity of the yogurt.