The present invention provides lactic acid bacteria which are suitable for usefordietary products and pharmaceuticals, and which can suppress the increase ofblood uric acidlevel.Various types of lactic acid bacteria were cultured in the presence of apurine, theamount of the purine consumed and the amount of purine degradation productsproducedwere measured, and several lactic acid bacteria showing remarkable purine-decomposingability were selected. Lactic acid bacteria that were assessed to have highpurine-decomposing ability according to the above-mentioned selection wereorallyadministered to rats reared on purine-containing feed, the general status andserum uric acidlevel of the rats were measured, and the effect of lactic acid bacteriaadministration on serumuric acid levels was examined. As a result, lactic acid bacteria thatsignificantly suppressthe increase of serum uric acid levels, Lactobacillus gasseri OLL2922, werefound.
