Science and Technology Innovation Center Han Qiaoyu December 22, 2023
Studies have found that prebiotics can promote the growth of probiotics, so what are prebiotics? The concept of prebiotics was first proposed in 1995. It is an ingredient that cannot be digested by the human body, can resist gastric acid, and is not absorbed by enzymes and the gastrointestinal tract. In 2016, the International Probiotics and Prebiotics Science Association redefined prebiotics as substances that can be selectively utilized and transformed by the host's intestinal flora on the premise of being beneficial to the health of the host. Previous studies regarded prebiotics as oligosaccharide carbohydrates. However, recent studies have found that prebiotics include not only carbohydrates but also other non-carbohydrates that meet prebiotic standards, such as polyphenols and peptide polymers.
Commonly used prebiotics include oligosaccharides, including fructooligosaccharides, galactooligosaccharides, xylooligosaccharides, isomaltooligosaccharides, soybean oligosaccharides, inulin, etc. Some microalgae can also be used as prebiotics, such as spiral Algae, Arthrospira, etc., in addition to polysaccharides (such as versicolor polysaccharide, carrot nitrogen-containing polysaccharide), protein hydrolysates (such as casein hydrolysates, α-lactalbumin, lactoferrin, etc.) and vegetables from natural plants, Chinese herbal medicine, wild plants, etc. can also be used as prebiotics.
Prebiotics can promote the growth and metabolism of probiotics. There are many studies on prebiotics promoting the growth and reproduction of probiotics, but most of them focus on polysaccharide-based prebiotics. For example, some foreign scholars conducted research on enteropolysaccharides and found that enteropolysaccharides can significantly change the intestinal flora structure of C57BL/6J mice and promote the growth of probiotics. In addition to polysaccharide prebiotics, polyphenols can selectively promote the growth of probiotic bacteria. For example, the phenolic compounds (such as catechin, gallic acid, vanillic acid, and protocatechuic acid) present in mango can inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria and have a good effect on the growth and reproduction of probiotics.
Prebiotics can also promote resistance of probiotic bacteria to reactive oxygen species and bile salts/acids. Studies have shown that an appropriate amount of reactive oxygen species is beneficial to human health. However, excessive reactive oxygen species in the intestines can react with DNA, proteins, and lipids in the cell membranes of intestinal probiotics, which is detrimental to the diversity and survival of intestinal probiotics. Influence. It has been reported that prebiotics such as fructans, plant polyphenols, inulin, and yellow polysaccharides can scavenge free reactive oxygen species in the gastrointestinal tract and show protective effects on probiotics. In addition, most probiotics in the intestine are extremely sensitive to bile salts/acids, which can inhibit the growth and function of probiotics through oxidative stress, dissolving bacterial membranes, and damaging DNA. Studies have shown that bile salts can be degraded by prebiotics, thereby reducing the toxic effects of bile salts on probiotics.
Prebiotics can also serve as protective agents in live probiotic preparations. The freeze-drying process of probiotics will cause their cell viability to decrease, so protective agents are needed to change the living environment of probiotics, reduce damage to cells, and maintain the original physiological and biochemical characteristics and biological activity of the microorganisms as much as possible. Prebiotics are a commonly used protective agent. Some scholars have found that protein trehalose can improve the survival rate of Lactobacillus plantarum TISTR 2075 after freeze-drying. Compared with other protective agents, even under long-term storage, the protein-trehalose protective agent can also maintain a high number of viable bacteria and the lowest mortality rate of probiotic bacteria.
In summary, prebiotics can promote the growth and metabolism of probiotics, promote the resistance of probiotics to reactive oxygen species and bile salts/acids, and can also be used as protective agents in live probiotic preparations, and can be used in healthy food, clinical, etc. field, to achieve the purpose of preventing certain diseases, regulating human health, and increasing the number of probiotics.
references:
YOU S, MA Y, YAN B, PEI W, WU Q, DING C, HUANG C, 2022. The promotion mechanism of prebiotics for probiotics: A review. Nutrition and Food Science Technology, Volume 9. https://doi.org /10.3389/fnut.2022.1000517.