Gut conditioning may be key to optimizing gut health, alongside probiotics and prebiotics
Dr. Wilbert Sybesma, founder of consultancy firm Microbiome Solutions, spoke at NutraIngredients’ Probiota event earlier this month about the importance of gut conditioning for gut health. He explained that gut conditioning involves creating the right environment for beneficial microbes to grow in the gut.
“Think of your gut as a flourishing greenhouse,” Sybesma said. “It has a front and back door, and a variety of plants, flowers, and even butterflies. This rich diversity is like the variety of microbes in your gut.”
“Just like you wouldn’t just give your greenhouse fertilizer (prebiotics), you also need to maintain the right balance of oxygen, carbon dioxide, temperature, and overall environment,” he added. “Gut conditioners can help create this optimal environment for beneficial microbes to thrive.”
Dr. Robert Steiner, principal scientist at DSM-Firmenich, also spoke at the event. He emphasized the need for a better understanding of the gut microbiome and suggested that addressing limitations in current research methods could provide valuable insights.
For example, the significance of the small intestine in microbial ecology is often underestimated, he noted. While the small intestine produces fewer microbes than the large intestine, the microbes it does produce can still be highly effective.
Probiotics from intestinal isolates may be more appealing to consumers
Sybesma said that probiotics from intestinal isolates may be more appealing to consumers because they are more familiar. These probiotics have already served a function in the human body, so they may be easier for the body to adapt to.
However, there are concerns about how probiotics are cultivated and produced by large companies. The conditions in a bioreactor are very different from the conditions in the human gut, so it is possible that commercially produced probiotics are not as effective as naturally occurring probiotics.
Future solutions: personalized probiotics and storing bacteria from stool samples
The concept of personalized probiotics is an exciting opportunity for the future. This would involve storing bacteria from a person’s stool sample and using it to create probiotics that are specific to that person’s gut microbiome.
Preliminary studies with mice have shown that probiotics derived from a person’s own body are more effective at treating colitis than commercially available probiotics.
Another future solution is to store bacteria from stool samples, similar to how stem cells are stored. This could allow people to replenish their gut microbiome with healthy bacteria in the future, if needed.
Personalized nutrition with complementary prebiotic and probiotic strains
Chyn Boon, assistant manager of marketing and scientific affairs at Morinaga, explained that future research could look into personalized nutrition. This would involve giving people complementary prebiotic and probiotic strains that are specific to their gut microbiome.
This could be a more effective way to improve gut health than taking general-purpose probiotics and prebiotics.
