Science and Technology Innovation Center Guo Yongjie December 29, 2023
The main symptoms of food accumulation include abdominal fullness, dry stool, or sour smell. Probiotics can relieve food accumulation. Probiotics can supplement and regulate intestinal flora, help improve intestinal immunity, inhibit intestinal pathogenic bacteria, improve the intestinal environment, and promote gastrointestinal function, thereby promoting digestion and absorption, and can also treat Food acts as a decomposer.
At present, the main mechanisms involved in probiotics improving food accumulation include the following:
1. Probiotics regulate the body's immune function
Probiotics can increase natural killer cell cytotoxicity and macrophage phagocytosis, play an important role in innate immunity, and mediate adaptation through interactions with enterocytes and dendritic cells, Th1, Th2, and Treg cell's immune response. Some probiotics can upregulate levels of antibody secretion, improve resistance to pathogens, and enhance vaccine responses. Probiotic strains can increase the levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-10, reduce the levels of inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-8, and have a significant effect on reducing intestinal inflammation and improving colitis.
2. Probiotics promote the production of short-chain fatty acids
Lactic acid and acetic acid produced by Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria are the major end products of carbohydrate metabolism. These organic acids, when generated in situ, can lower the intraluminal pH and inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria. Although lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria do not produce butyrate, they can increase the levels of butyric acid and other short-chain fatty acids in the intestine through interaction with other commensal flora (such as Faecalibacterium), which can potentially affect cardiometabolic, brain-gut interaction, etc. Physiological functions.
3. Interaction between probiotics and intestinal flora
Probiotics interact with intestinal flora through nutritional competition, antagonism, and symbiosis. The antagonistic effect of probiotics on other microorganisms may be the result of their metabolism of carbohydrates to produce organic acids or bacterial toxins. These antimicrobial compounds can be active against pathogens in many locations, including the human urinary tract and intestines. Bifidobacteria produce acetate and provide energy to other members of the gut microbiota. Studies have shown that although Phobacterium longifolia AH1206 and Bifidobacterium ATCC15696 strains have been proven to persist in the intestines of infants, no correlation between the decrease in the abundance of pathogenic bacteria and bacterial toxins has been detected. The ability of certain probiotics to eradicate H. pylori may involve inhibition of the pathogen, in which case the probiotics would reduce the adverse effects of antibiotics.
4. Interaction between probiotics and host
Probiotics interact with the host through cell surface macromolecules such as pili and mucin-binding proteins. In addition, probiotic cell wall components, such as lipoteichoic acid and peptidoglycan, play an active role in probiotic-host interactions. Studies have shown that these structures change the combination of immune cells, mucin, and intestinal epithelial cells, resulting in prolonged intestinal transit time and ensuring the integrity of the intestinal barrier. Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and GR-1 adhere to the intestinal epithelium through cell surface macromolecules with different structures, such as exopolysaccharides, increasing the integrity of the intestinal barrier.
5. Probiotics promote enzyme production
Microbial enzymes produced and delivered by some probiotic strains, such as beta-galactosidase and bile salt hydrolase, improve lactose digestion and blood lipid profiles in humans. Taking Streptococcus thermophilus in yogurt as an example, it can promote the digestion of lactose. That is, after Streptococcus thermophilus enters the small intestine, it is penetrated by bile acids and promotes the transport of microbial β-galactosidase into the small intestine, thereby breaking down lactose into easily Digested glucose and galactose.