About the Authors

Satoru Hasegawa

Affiliations Department of Pathophysiological Laboratory Sciences, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan, Division of Neurogenetics, Center for Neurological Diseases and Cancer, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan

Sae Goto

Affiliation Department of Pathophysiological Laboratory Sciences, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan

Hirokazu Tsuji

Affiliation Yakult Central Institute, Tokyo, Japan

Tatsuya Okuno

Affiliation Division of Neurogenetics, Center for Neurological Diseases and Cancer, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan

Takashi Asahara

Affiliation Yakult Central Institute, Tokyo, Japan

Koji Nomoto

Affiliation Yakult Central Institute, Tokyo, Japan

Akihide Shibata

Affiliation Division of Neurogenetics, Center for Neurological Diseases and Cancer, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan

Yoshiro Fujisawa

Affiliation Department of Pathophysiological Laboratory Sciences, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan

Tomomi Minato

Affiliation Department of Pathophysiological Laboratory Sciences, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan

Akira Okamoto

Affiliation Department of School Health Sciences, Aichi University of Education, Kariya, Japan

Kinji Ohno

hirasan@met.nagoya-u.ac.jp (MH); ohnok@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp (KO)

Affiliation Division of Neurogenetics, Center for Neurological Diseases and Cancer, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan

Masaaki Hirayama

hirasan@met.nagoya-u.ac.jp (MH); ohnok@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp (KO)

Affiliation Department of Pathophysiological Laboratory Sciences, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan

Competing Interests

The study was funded by Yakult Central Institute. HT, TA, and KN are employed by the Yakult Central Institute. HT, TA, and KN blindly analyzed fecal samples. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. The other authors have no competing interests.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: MH KO KN. Performed the experiments: HT TA SH. Analyzed the data: TO AS. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: SH SG YF TM. Wrote the paper: SH KO MH. Prediction of hydrogen-producing bacteria: SH AO.