Research

Hormonal

High-dose 2'-FL supplementation (5g/day) in older adults significantly increases serum levels of Fibroblast Growth Factor 21 (FGF21) and HDL cholesterol, while depleting octanoylcarnitine.

Older adults taking 5g of 2'-FL daily may see improvements in HDL cholesterol and levels of the hormone FGF21, which regulates lipid metabolism. These changes are associated with the bloom of Bifidobacterium in the gut. The intervention is well-tolerated.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) was significantly elevated in the High Dose 2’-FL group vs. the Placebo group (P=0.004... We also found that octanoylcarnitine was depleted in the High Dose 2’-FL group compared to both the Low Dose 2’-FL group (P=0.004... and the Placebo group (P=7.3x10-4... We found that the High Dose 2'-FL group... had significantly increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol at End of intervention (Week 6) compared to Baseline
Matthew M. Carter et al. · medRxiv · 2023

Why this rating

Statistically significant findings in a randomized controlled trial, though the primary endpoint (cytokine score) was not met.

Source

A human milk oligosaccharide alters the microbiome, circulating hormones, cytokines and metabolites in a randomized controlled trial of older individuals

Matthew M. Carter et al. · medRxiv · 2023

DOI 10.1101/2023.08.18.23294085

preprint · n=89Cited 4×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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