ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank all participants in this trial. We also thank Daisuke Nozaki and Yuki Kataoka of Yakult Honsha Co. Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan) for the production of the test beverages and the staff of KSO Corporation (Tokyo, Japan) for managing this trial and its participants and analyzing the data. The clinical trials, designed by au- thors, were performed under the management of KSO Corporation with the sponsorship and provision of test beverages from Yakult Honsha Co. Ltd. The sponsor provided salaries for A. Gomi, K. Yamaji, O. Wata- nabe, M. Yoshioka, and K. Miyazaki but did not have any additional role in data collection or interpretation. The remaining authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and publication of this article.