Effect of waxy barley, Kirarimochi, consumption on bowel movements of late-stage elderly residents at Roken nursing home

Abstract Background It is very important for the late-stage elderly to have the least stressful bowel movements for maintaining a good quality of life. It is generally accepted that consuming adequate dietary fiber is a promising method for the prevention and management of stressful bowel movements such as those during constipation. Therefore, we examined the effect of long-term consumption of waxy barley, which is high in dietary fiber, on the bowel movements of the late-stage elderly living at Roken nursing home (a geriatric health services facility), Japan. Methods We compared the defecation and laxative administration frequencies of the subjects before and after waxy barley consumption, for which we served 28 residents a boiled mixture of rice and waxy barley (variety name, Kirarimochi) as the main meals for 5 months, from November to March. In October, all residents were served boiled rice as the main meals. Results The residents were categorized into “constipated” subjects and “non-constipated” subjects according to their weekly defecation frequency during October. Among the 14 residents categorized as constipated subjects, monthly number of days with defecation in November, January, and March significantly increased in comparison to monthly number of days with defecation in October. In addition, monthly number of days with laxative administration significantly decreased in December and February in comparison to monthly number of days with laxative administration in October. In contrast, the defecation and laxative administration frequencies did not change after waxy barley consumption among the 14 residents categorized as non-constipated subjects. Conclusions Consumption of waxy barley, Kirarimochi, for 5 months improved the bowel movements of the constipated subjects; however, the consumption had no effect on the bowel movements of the non-constipated subjects at Roken nursing home. These results indicate that consuming waxy barley, Kirarimochi, is beneficial for the management of constipation in the late-stage elderly residents at Roken nursing home

Cationic surfactants induce apoptosis in normal and cancer cells

Cationic surfactants, such as benzalkonium chloride and benzethonium chloride, possess quaternary ammonium salt. These surfactants have antimicrobial action and are used as a preservative and an antiseptic. The positively charged polar head of cationic surfactants seems to play a role in the antimicrobial action of these compounds. Recently, benzalkonium chloride in eye drops has been reported to induce apoptosis in conjunctival cells. Here, we examined whether various types of surfactants including anionic and amphoteric surfactants induce apoptosis or not in mammalian cells. Antimicrobial cationic surfactants induced apoptosis at lower concentration than its critical micelle concentration (CMC) in rat thymocytes. Other quaternary ammonium surfactants, such as cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, similarly increased biochemical and morphological features of apoptosis, whereas both anionic and amphoteric surfactants had no significant effect on these apoptotic features. These results suggest that the positive charge of quaternary ammonium surfactants is involved with onset of the apoptotic process. The treatment of benzethonium chloride also led to apoptotic cell death in Jurkat cells. These results indicate that cationic surfactants induce apoptosis in the normal and cancer cellsNRC publication: Ye