Colon microbiota fermentation of dietary prebiotics towards short-chain fatty acids and their roles as anti-inflammatory and antitumour agents: A review
Section snippets
Definition and dietary sources of prebiotic fibres
Dietary fibre is a heterogeneous and complex group of phytochemicals and its most accepted definition has been established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which defines dietary fibre as “polysaccharides with ten or more monomeric units, which are not hydrolysed by the endogenous enzymes in the small intestine of humans and which are fermented in the large bowel by the action of the intestinal microbiota” (FAO/WHO, 2008, Quirós-Sauceda et al, 2014, Westenbrink et al, 2012).
Governmental
Technological use of prebiotic fibres in manufactured food
The recommended DRI (Dietary Recommended Intake) of dietary fibre is 25 g/day for women younger than 50 years and 38 g/day for men younger than 50 years, but the usual intake of dietary fibre in Western countries like USA is only 15 g/day (Brownawell et al., 2012). Therefore, the total prebiotics intake in Western diets is very low, and an effective solution to achieve a beneficial prebiotics intake may be the use of functional prebiotic food. Many different types of commonly consumed food
Colon microbiota and SCFAs production on prebiotic fibres
The major site of SCFA production in the human body is the colon, which requires the presence of specific fermentative bacteria and explains why these compounds are found only at 1% in germ-free mice with respect to normal mice, and most probably these low concentration (mainly acetate) arises from basal metabolism and diet (Høverstad & Midtvedt, 1986). Ingested prebiotics remain intact along our digestive tract, until reaching the colon. Here, these polymers are however a perfect carbon source
Nutritional and antitumour effects of SCFA
In Western populations, colorectal cancer (CRC) is the most common cancer (35 cases per 100.000 hab), and an important cause of death, after coronary heart diseases and lung cancer, followed by breast cancer (Jemal et al., 2011).
Animal and human studies have shown that initiation of a CRC process in the colonic mucosa takes place in its crypts, which cover this mucosa completely. These crypts are tubular invaginations formed by structured cell layers (Humphries & Wright, 2008). In the bottom of
Anti-inflammatory effects of SCFA
Colon epithelial cells are protected against pathogens by normal microbiota. Although the characteristics of a normal and healthy colon microbiota have not been defined, it is known that changes in the composition of this microbiota are related with several diseases. Thereby, some disorders such as obesity or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) could be the result of dysbiosis combined with genetic and environmental factors (Villanueva-Millán, Pérez-Matute, & Oteo, 2015).
Crohn's disease (CD) and
Conclusions
Regular consumption of prebiotic polysaccharides (inulin, FOS, GOS, HMO) allows maintenance of a high level of beneficial colon bacterial populations which degrade and ferment them, generating SCFAs, mainly acetate, propionate and butyrate. Knowledge about these complex biosynthetic catabolic and anabolic pathways is still partial but several routes involved in the formation of these SCFAs, which vary between species of microorganisms are already known. The physiological effect of the regular
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank MINECO (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Grant MINECO-14-RTC-2014-1525-2) and CDTI (Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico e Industrial, Grants IDI-20120896 and IDI-20120897) for financial support to JF. We also thank European Union H2020 Program (Grant UE-15-NOMORFILM-634588) for financial support to SRB and NGR.
References (104)
- et al.
Human milk and related oligosaccharides as prebiotics
Current Opinion in Biotechnology
(2013) - et al.
Prebiotics and the health benefits of fiber: Current regulatory status, future research, and goals
The Journal of Nutrition
(2012) - et al.
Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) polysaccharides modulate gene expression in human colon cancer cells (HT-29)
Food Research International
(2010) - et al.
Biotechnological potential of inulin for bioprocesses
Bioresource Technology
(2011) - et al.
Resistant starches protect against colonic DNA damage and alter microbiota and gene expression in rats fed a Western diet
The Journal of Nutrition
(2012) - et al.
Active hexose correlated compound acts as a prebiotic and is antiinflammatory in rats with hapten-induced colitis
The Journal of Nutrition
(2007) - et al.
Dietary fibre and fibre-rich by-products of food processing: Characterisation, technological functionality and commercial applications: A review
Food Chemistry
(2011) - et al.
Reserve accumulation in legume seeds
Comptes Rendus Biologies
(2008) - et al.
Dietary modulation of the human colonic microbiota: Introducing the concept of prebiotics
The Journal of Nutrition
(1995) - et al.
Short-chain fatty acids in germfree mice and rats
The Journal of Nutrition
(1986)
Application of inulin in cheese as prebiotic, fat replacer and texturizer: A review
Carbohydrate Polymers
Dietary modulation of colon cancer risk
The Journal of Nutrition
Lessons from hereditary colorectal cancer
Cell
Inulin and oligofructose in chronic inflammatory bowel disease
The Journal of Nutrition
Microbial composition and in vitro fermentation patterns of human milk oligosaccharides and prebiotics differ between formula-fed and sow-reared piglets
The Journal of Nutrition
Health benefits of prebiotic fibers
Advances in Food and Nutrition Research
Health foods and foods with health claims in Japan
Toxicology
Methods to determine food inulin and oligofructose
The Journal of Nutrition
Inulin-type fructans: Functional food ingredients
The Journal of Nutrition
Fructans of Jerusalem artichokes: Intestinal transport, absorption, fermentation, and influence on blood glucose, insulin, and C-peptide responses in healthy subjects
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Mechanisms of primary cancer prevention by butyrate and other products formed during gut flora-mediated fermentation of dietary fibre
Mutation Research
Effects of synbiotic fermentation products on primary chemoprevention in human colon cells
The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry
Inhibitory effects of nondigestible carbohydrates of different chain lengths on azoxymethane-induced aberrant crypt foci in Fisher 344 rats
Nutrition Research
The gut microbiota and inflammatory noncommunicable diseases: Associations and potentials for gut microbiota therapies
The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
Molecular diversity, cultivation, and improved detection by fluorescent in situ hybridization of a dominant group of human gut bacteria related to Roseburia spp. or Eubacterium rectale
Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Phylogenetic relationships of butyrate-producing bacteria from the human gut
Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Pathway of lysine degradation in Fusobacterium nucleatum
Journal of Bacteriology
Two routes of metabolic cross-feeding between Bifidobacterium adolescentis and butyrate-producing anaerobes from the human gut
Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Evaluation of fructooligosaccharides and inulins as potentially health benefiting food ingredients by HPAEC-PED and MALDI-TOF MS
International Journal of Analytical Chemistry
Food-based strategies to modulate the composition of the intestinal microbiota and their associated health effects
Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology: An Official Journal of the Polish Physiological Society
The colonic protein fermentation and insulin resistance hypotheses for colon cancer etiology: Experimental tests using precursor lesions
European Journal of Cancer Prevention: The Official Journal of the European Cancer Prevention Organisation (ECP)
Two pathways of glutamate fermentation by anaerobic bacteria
Journal of Bacteriology
Glutaconate CoA-transferase from Acidaminococcus fermentans
European Journal of Biochemistry / FEBS
Role of carbohydrate reserves in yield production of intensively cultivated oil olive (Olea europaea L.) trees
Tree Physiology
Fructan biosynthesis in transgenic plants
Journal of Experimental Botany
Changes in gut microbiota control inflammation in obese mice through a mechanism involving GLP-2-driven improvement of gut permeability
Gut
Fructooligosaccharides exert intestinal anti-inflammatory activity in the CD4+ CD62L+ T cell transfer model of colitis in C57BL/6J mice
European Journal of Nutrition
The fermented non-digestible fraction of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) triggers cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in human colon adenocarcinoma cells
Genes & Nutrition
Insight into the prebiotic concept: Lessons from an exploratory, double blind intervention study with inulin-type fructans in obese women
Gut
Proposal of Roseburia faecis sp. nov., Roseburia hominis sp. nov. and Roseburia inulinivorans sp. nov., based on isolates from human faeces
International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology
Proposal of a neotype strain (A1-86) for Eubacterium rectale. Request for an opinion
International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology
Growth requirements and fermentation products of Fusobacterium prausnitzii, and a proposal to reclassify it as Faecalibacterium prausnitzii gen. nov., comb. nov
International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology
Contribution of acetate to butyrate formation by human faecal bacteria
The British Journal of Nutrition
Butyrate production in phylogenetically diverse Firmicutes isolated from the chicken caecum
Microbial Biotechnology
Genome-scale metabolic reconstructions of Bifidobacterium adolescentis L2-32 and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii A2-165 and their interaction
BMC Systems Biology
Gut microbiota as a key player in triggering obesity, systemic inflammation and insulin resistance
Revista de Investigación Clínica; Organo Del Hospital de Enfermedades de La Nutrición
Codex committee on nutrition and foods for special dietary uses
Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling
Healthy effects of prebiotics and their metabolites against intestinal diseases and colorectal cancer
AIMS Microbiology
Technological functionality of inulin and oligofructose
The British Journal of Nutrition
Scientific concepts of functional foods in Europe. Consensus document
The British Journal of Nutrition
Cited by (260)
Adsorption, in vitro digestion and human gut microbiota regulation characteristics of three Poria cocos polysaccharides
2024, Food Science and Human WellnessStructure properties of Canna edulis RS3 (double enzyme hydrolysis) and RS4 (OS-starch and cross-linked starch): Influence on fermentation products and human gut microbiota
2024, International Journal of Biological MacromoleculesExploring the efficacy of a novel prebiotic-like growth promoter on broiler chicken production performance
2024, Veterinary and Animal ScienceEffects of forsythin extract in Forsythia leaves on intestinal microbiota and short-chain fatty acids in rats fed a high-fat diet
2024, Food Science and Human Wellness