scholarly journals Potential Use of Marine Seaweeds as Prebiotics: A Review

Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 1004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aroa Lopez-Santamarina ◽  
Jose Manuel Miranda ◽  
Alicia del Carmen Mondragon ◽  
Alexandre Lamas ◽  
Alejandra Cardelle-Cobas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Fresh Water ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Dietary Factors ◽  
Human Consumption ◽  
Terrestrial Plants ◽  
Human Gut ◽  
Human Gut Microbiota ◽  
Complex Carbohydrates

Human gut microbiota plays an important role in several metabolic processes and human diseases. Various dietary factors, including complex carbohydrates, such as polysaccharides, provide abundant nutrients and substrates for microbial metabolism in the gut, affecting the members and their functionality. Nowadays, the main sources of complex carbohydrates destined for human consumption are terrestrial plants. However, fresh water is an increasingly scarce commodity and world agricultural productivity is in a persistent decline, thus demanding the exploration of other sources of complex carbohydrates. As an interesting option, marine seaweeds show rapid growth and do not require arable land, fresh water or fertilizers. The present review offers an objective perspective of the current knowledge surrounding the impacts of seaweeds and their derived polysaccharides on the human microbiome and the profound need for more in-depth investigations into this topic. Animal experiments and in vitro colonic-simulating trials investigating the effects of seaweed ingestion on human gut microbiota are discussed.

scholarly journals Animal-Origin Prebiotics Based on Chitin: An Alternative for the Future? A Critical Review

Foods ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 782 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aroa Lopez-Santamarina ◽  
Alicia del Carmen Mondragon ◽  
Alexandre Lamas ◽  
Jose Manuel Miranda ◽  
Carlos Manuel Franco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Great Influence ◽  
Dietary Factors ◽  
Metabolic Effects ◽  
Animal Origin ◽  
Human Gut ◽  
Broad Perspective ◽  
Human Gut Microbiota ◽  
Complex Carbohydrates

The human gut microbiota has been revealed in recent years as a factor that plays a decisive role in the maintenance of human health, as well as in the development of many non-communicable diseases. This microbiota can be modulated by various dietary factors, among which complex carbohydrates have a great influence. Although most complex carbohydrates included in the human diet come from vegetables, there are also options to include complex carbohydrates from non-vegetable sources, such as chitin and its derivatives. Chitin, and its derivatives such as chitosan can be obtained from non-vegetable sources, the best being insects, crustacean exoskeletons and fungi. The present review offers a broad perspective of the current knowledge surrounding the impacts of chitin and its derived polysaccharides on the human gut microbiota and the profound need for more in-depth investigations into this topic. Overall, the effects of whole insects or meal on the gut microbiota have contradictory results, possibly due to their high protein content. Better results are obtained for the case of chitin derivatives, regarding both metabolic effects and effects on the gut microbiota composition.

scholarly journals Food Additives and Contaminants: Effects on Human Gut Microbiota—A Review

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Roca-Saavedra ◽  
Veronica Mendez-Vilabrille ◽  
Jose Manuel Miranda ◽  
Alexandre Lamas ◽  
Carolina Nebot ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Fatty Liver Disease ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Food Additives ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Dietary Factors ◽  
Human Gut ◽  
Human Gut Microbiota ◽  
As Stress ◽  
Microbiota Diversity

Gut bacteria play an important role in several metabolic processes and human diseases, such as obesity and its co-morbidities, like fatty liver disease, insulin resistance/diabetes and cardiovascular events. Among several factors, dietary patterns, probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, antimicrobials and non-dietary factors, such as stress, age, exercise and climatic conditions, can dramatically impact the human gut microbiota diversity and equilibrium. However, the effect of minor food constituents, including food additives and trace contaminants, on human gut microbiota has received less attention. Consequently, the present review aimed to provide an objective perspective of the current knowledge regarding the impacts of minor food constituents on human gut microbiota and consequently, on human health.

scholarly journals HUMAN GUT MICROBIOTA AND ITS EFFECTS ON HUMAN HEALTH IN NORMAL AND PATHOLOGICAL CONDITIONS

2017 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 185-193
Author(s):  
Anca Magdalena Munteanu ◽  
◽  
Raluca Cursaru ◽  
Loreta Guja ◽  
Simona Carniciu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Fecal Microbiota Transplantation ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Gastrointestinal Diseases ◽  
Fecal Microbiota ◽  
Research Subjects ◽  
Human Gut ◽  
Human Host ◽  
Human Gut Microbiota

The medical research of the last 1-2 decades allows us to look at the human gut microbiota and microbiome as to a structure that can promote health and sometimes initiate disease. It works like an endocrine organ: releasing specific metabolites, using environmental inputs, e.g. diet, or acting through its structural compounds, that signal human host receptors, to finally contributing to the pathogenesis of several gastrointestinal and non-gastrointestinal diseases. The same commensal microbes were found as shapers of the human host response to drugs (cardiovascular, oncology etc.). New technologies played an important role in these achievements, facilitating analysis of the genetic and metabolic profile of this microbial community. Once the inputs, the pathways and a lot of human host receptors were highlighted, the scientists were encouraged to go further into research, in order to develop new pathogenic therapies, targeting the human gut flora. Dual therapies, evolving these “friend microbes”, are another actual research subjects. This review gives an update on the current knowledge in the area of microbiota disbalances under environmental factors, the contribution of gut microbiota and microbiome to the pathogenesis of obesity, obesity associated metabolic disorders and cardiovascular disease, as well as new perspectives in preventing and treating these diseases, with high prevalence in contemporary, economically developed societies. It brings the latest and most relevant evidences relating to: probiotics, prebiotics, polyphenols and fecal microbiota transplantation, dietary nutrient manipulation, microbial as well as human host enzyme manipulation, shaping human responses to currently used drugs, manipulating the gut microbiome by horizontal gene transfer.

scholarly journals Bifidobacterium bifidum: A Key Member of the Early Human Gut Microbiota

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Turroni ◽  
Sabrina Duranti ◽  
Christian Milani ◽  
Gabriele Andrea Lugli ◽  
Douwe van Sinderen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Bifidobacterium Bifidum ◽  
Human Gut ◽  
Human Gut Microbiota ◽  
Current Review ◽  
Host Health ◽  
Genetic Features ◽  
Early Human ◽  
Breast Fed

Bifidobacteria typically represent the most abundant bacteria of the human gut microbiota in healthy breast-fed infants. Members of the Bifidobacterium bifidum species constitute one of the dominant taxa amongst these bifidobacterial communities and have been shown to display notable physiological and genetic features encompassing adhesion to epithelia as well as metabolism of host-derived glycans. In the current review, we discuss current knowledge concerning particular biological characteristics of the B. bifidum species that support its specific adaptation to the human gut and their implications in terms of supporting host health.

scholarly journals Glycan complexity dictates microbial resource allocation in the large intestine

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Artur Rogowski ◽  
Jonathon A. Briggs ◽  
Jennifer C. Mortimer ◽  
Theodora Tryfona ◽  
Nicolas Terrapon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Large Intestine ◽  
Side Chains ◽  
Dietary Carbohydrates ◽  
Human Gut ◽  
Human Gut Microbiota ◽  
Bacteroides Ovatus ◽  
Complex Carbohydrates

Abstract The structure of the human gut microbiota is controlled primarily through the degradation of complex dietary carbohydrates, but the extent to which carbohydrate breakdown products are shared between members of the microbiota is unclear. We show here, using xylan as a model, that sharing the breakdown products of complex carbohydrates by key members of the microbiota, such as Bacteroides ovatus, is dependent on the complexity of the target glycan. Characterization of the extensive xylan degrading apparatus expressed by B. ovatus reveals that the breakdown of the polysaccharide by the human gut microbiota is significantly more complex than previous models suggested, which were based on the deconstruction of xylans containing limited monosaccharide side chains. Our report presents a highly complex and dynamic xylan degrading apparatus that is fine-tuned to recognize the different forms of the polysaccharide presented to the human gut microbiota.

scholarly journals Human gut microbiota: does diet matter?

2014 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna Maukonen ◽  
Maria Saarela
Keyword(s):  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Digestive System ◽  
High Protein Diet ◽  
Normal Diet ◽  
Dietary Factors ◽  
The Body ◽  
Gi Tract ◽  
Dietary Interventions ◽  
Human Gut ◽  
Human Gut Microbiota

The human oro-gastrointestinal (GI) tract is a complex system, consisting of oral cavity, pharynx, oesophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum and anus, which all together with the accessory digestive organs constitute the digestive system. The function of the digestive system is to break down dietary constituents into small molecules and then absorb these for subsequent distribution throughout the body. Besides digestion and carbohydrate metabolism, the indigenous microbiota has an important influence on host physiological, nutritional and immunological processes, and commensal bacteria are able to modulate the expression of host genes that regulate diverse and fundamental physiological functions. The main external factors that can affect the composition of the microbial community in generally healthy adults include major dietary changes and antibiotic therapy. Changes in some selected bacterial groups have been observed due to controlled changes to the normal diet e.g. high-protein diet, high-fat diet, prebiotics, probiotics and polyphenols. More specifically, changes in the type and quantity of non-digestible carbohydrates in the human diet influence both the metabolic products formed in the lower regions of the GI tract and the bacterial populations detected in faeces. The interactions between dietary factors, gut microbiota and host metabolism are increasingly demonstrated to be important for maintaining homeostasis and health. Therefore the aim of this review is to summarise the effect of diet, and especially dietary interventions, on the human gut microbiota. Furthermore, the most important confounding factors (methodologies used and intrinsic human factors) in relation to gut microbiota analyses are elucidated.

In vitro study of the interaction between human gut microbiota and herbal extracts using willow bark extract as an example

Planta Medica ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 81 (S 01) ◽  
pp. S1-S381
Author(s):  
EM Pferschy-Wenzig ◽  
K Koskinen ◽  
C Moissl-Eichinger ◽  
R Bauer
Keyword(s):  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
In Vitro Study ◽  
Vitro Study ◽  
Bark Extract ◽  
Herbal Extracts ◽  
Human Gut ◽  
Human Gut Microbiota ◽  
Willow Bark

Metabolization of the herbal combination STW-5 by human gut microbiota in vitro

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
EM Pferschy-Wenzig ◽  
A Roßmann ◽  
K Koskinen ◽  
H Abdel-Aziz ◽  
C Moissl-Eichinger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Human Gut ◽  
Human Gut Microbiota

Substrate use prioritization by a coculture of five species of gut bacteria fed mixtures of arabinoxylan, xyloglucan, β-glucan, and pectin

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y Liu ◽  
AL Heath ◽  
B Galland ◽  
N Rehrer ◽  
L Drummond ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Dietary Fiber ◽  
Plant Cell Wall ◽  
Bacterial Species ◽  
Short Chain ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
Human Gut ◽  
Fermentation Products ◽  
Plant Polysaccharides ◽  
Human Gut Microbiota

© 2020 American Society for Microbiology. Dietary fiber provides growth substrates for bacterial species that belong to the colonic microbiota of humans. The microbiota degrades and ferments substrates, producing characteristic short-chain fatty acid profiles. Dietary fiber contains plant cell wall-associated polysaccharides (hemicelluloses and pectins) that are chemically diverse in composition and structure. Thus, depending on plant sources, dietary fiber daily presents the microbiota with mixtures of plant polysaccharides of various types and complexity. We studied the extent and preferential order in which mixtures of plant polysaccharides (arabinoxylan, xyloglucan, β-glucan, and pectin) were utilized by a coculture of five bacterial species (Bacteroides ovatus, Bifidobacterium longum subspecies longum, Megasphaera elsdenii, Ruminococcus gnavus, and Veillonella parvula). These species are members of the human gut microbiota and have the biochemical capacity, collectively, to degrade and ferment the polysaccharides and produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). B. ovatus utilized glycans in the order β-glucan, pectin, xyloglucan, and arabinoxylan, whereas B. longum subsp. longum utilization was in the order arabinoxylan, arabinan, pectin, and β-glucan. Propionate, as a proportion of total SCFAs, was augmented when polysaccharide mixtures contained galactan, resulting in greater succinate production by B. ovatus and conversion of succinate to propionate by V. parvula. Overall, we derived a synthetic ecological community that carries out SCFA production by the common pathways used by bacterial species for this purpose. Systems like this might be used to predict changes to the emergent properties of the gut ecosystem when diet is altered, with the aim of beneficially affecting human physiology. This study addresses the question as to how bacterial species, characteristic of the human gut microbiota, collectively utilize mixtures of plant polysaccharides such as are found in dietary fiber. Five bacterial species with the capacity to degrade polymers and/or produce acidic fermentation products detectable in human feces were used in the experiments. The bacteria showed preferential use of certain polysaccharides over others for growth, and this influenced their fermentation output qualitatively. These kinds of studies are essential in developing concepts of how the gut microbial community shares habitat resources, directly and indirectly, when presented with mixtures of polysaccharides that are found in human diets. The concepts are required in planning dietary interventions that might correct imbalances in the functioning of the human microbiota so as to support measures to reduce metabolic conditions such as obesity.

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