Dietary modulation of the human colonic microbiota: introducing the concept of prebiotics.
Gibson GR, Roberfroid MB
MRC Dunn Clinical Nutrition Centre, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Because the human gut microbiota can play a major role in host health,
there is currently some interest in the manipulation of the composition
of the gut flora towards a potentially more remedial community. Attempts
have been made to increase bacterial groups such as Bifidobacterium and
Lactobacillus that are perceived as exerting health-promoting properties.
Probiotics, defined as microbial food supplements that beneficially affect
the host by improving its intestinal microbial balance, have been used
to change the composition of colonic microbiota. However, such
changes may be transient, and the implantation of exogenous bacteria therefore
becomes limited. In contrast, prebiotics are nondigestible food ingredients
that beneficially affect the host by selectively stimulating the growth
and/or activity of one or a limited number of bacterial species already
resident in the colon, and thus attempt to improve host health. Intake
of prebiotics can significantly modulate the colonic microbiota by increasing
the number of specific bacteria and thus changing the composition of the
microbiota. Nondigestible oligosaccharides in general, and fructooligosaccharides
in particular, are prebiotics. They have been shown to stimulate the growth
of endogenous bifidobacteria, which, after a short feeding period, become
predominant in human feces. Moreover, these prebiotics modulate lipid metabolism,
most likely via fermentation products. By combining the rationale of pro-
and prebiotics, the concept of synbiotics is proposed to characterize some
colonic foods with interesting nutritional properties that make these compounds
candidates for classification as health-enhancing functional food ingredients.
Publication Types:
Review
Review, tutorial
PMID: 7782892, UI: 95302171