Aug 2026· Comprehensive Physiology· 0 citations· 46 references
Abstract
The gastrointestinal microbiota has a pivotal role in human health, orchestrating metabolic homeostasis, immunological activity, and nutrient bioavailability. Dietary modulation of gut microbiota is the simplest and most effective approach to preventing and managing metabolic and inflammatory disorders. Duckweed, particularly
Wolffia
species, has recently emerged as a sustainable, nutrient‐dense functional food with potential microbiome‐mediated benefits. Beyond its high‐quality protein content, duckweed provides fermentable fibers, polyphenols, minerals, and micronutrients including vitamin B
12
—that potentially influence gut microbial composition and metabolic activity. Evidence from compositional analyses, in vitro human colonic fermentation models, animal studies, and controlled dietary interventions suggests that duckweed‐derived substrates support short‐chain fatty acid production, generate bioactive phenolic metabolites, and interact with probiotic taxa, positioning duckweed as a prebiotic‐like matrix with synbiotic potential. Clinical studies within whole‐diet frameworks, such as green‐Mediterranean dietary patterns incorporating
Wolffia globosa
, report favorable metabolic outcomes alongside microbiome‐associated signals. This review synthesizes mechanistic, preclinical, and clinical evidence to reframe duckweed not just as another alternative protein, but as a microbiota‐accessible, synbiotic‐ready food matrix, while identifying the critical evidence gaps that currently limit clinical translation and regulatory constraints.
Tea, derived from Camellia sinensis, is one of the most widely consumed beverages worldwide and is rich in bioactive compounds, particularly polyphenols, that exhibit significant health-promoting properties. Growing evidence indicates that tea polyphenols interact extensively with the human gut microbiota, a complex microbial ecosystem essential for maintaining intestinal homeostasis, metabolic regulation, and immune function. Tea polyphenols, including catechins and theaflavins, are poorly absorbed in the small intestine and reach the colon, where they undergo microbial biotransformation into bioactive metabolites. These interactions are bidirectional, as gut microorganisms metabolize tea polyphenols while tea-derived compounds selectively modulate the gut microbial community by promoting beneficial bacteria such as Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and Akkermansia muciniphila and suppressing pathogenic microorganisms. Such microbial modulation enhances short-chain fatty acid production, strengthens intestinal barrier function, and contributes to improved metabolic health, immune regulation, and a reduced risk of several chronic diseases. Emerging evidence further suggests that the microbiota-modulating effects of tea vary among green, black, oolong, and fermented teas because of differences in their polyphenolic composition and processing methods. However, most available evidence is derived from in vitro and animal studies, whereas robust human clinical trials remain limited. Variations in tea composition, dosage, and individual gut microbial profiles further complicate the interpretation of existing findings. Collectively, current evidence supports tea as a promising dietary modulator of the gut microbiota, although further mechanistic and clinical investigations are required to establish its therapeutic potential and facilitate microbiome-based nutritional interventions
Teena Yadav, Shekhar Jain· International Journal of Lat...· 0 citations
Pulses demonstrate promising potential to improve gut health by promoting beneficial microbiota, increasing short-chain fatty acid production, and enhancing intestinal barrier function, highlighting the need for long-term human interventions and scalable processing strategies to fully realize their potential.
Claudia E. Lazarte, Rucha Rane, F. Hållenius et al.· Nutrients· 0 citations
The composition of fish gut microbiota has direct implications for aquaculture productivity as alterations in these microbes profoundly affect several physiological functions of the fish. Nowadays, aquaculture feeding strategies increasingly shift from animal‐derived diets toward more sustainable plant‐based diets; understanding how the influence of a specific dietary component on fish gut microbiota has become increasingly important. Furthermore, the advancement of microbial genome sequencing technologies provides more comprehensive information on the effects of various dietary components on the gut microbiota of fish. Changes in these macronutrients and micronutrients can disrupt the eubiosis, gradually leading to dysbiosis by selectively enriching microbial guilds with distinct metabolic capacities, ultimately affecting the host‐microbial interaction, gut homeostasis, and overall fish health. Mostly, animal‐derived proteins and marine oils often favour the growth of bacteria that can metabolize proteins and lipids, whereas plant‐based proteins support the growth of bacteria that can ferment complex carbohydrates to produce beneficial metabolites, including short‐chain fatty acids. Feed additives are important to modulate the gut microbiota of fish via enhancing the abundance of beneficial bacterial species. Therefore, formulating aquafeeds by targeting on promoting the growth of beneficial gut microbiota and assessing the value of feed ingredients via considering the gut homeostasis indices seems useful. This review upgrades our knowledge on how dietary components interact and regulate the gut microbiota, ultimately influencing overall fish performance. Designing next‐generation aquafeeds and developing precision nutrition for the fish and their microbiota using advanced omics and artificial intelligence technologies to develop climate‐resilient fish farming is crucial.
T. Teame, Einar Ringø, Hong-Wei Yang et al.· Reviews in Aquaculture· 0 citations
The gut microbiota is a dynamic, complex microbial ecosystem that is fundamental to human health and influences metabolism, immunity, and susceptibility to disease. There is growing evidence that bioactive peptides (BAPs) are important regulators of gut microbiota composition and function. BAPs are short protein fragments liberated through enzymatic hydrolysis or microbial fermentation in vitro and during the digestion of food proteins in vivo. The biological activities of these BAPs, beyond their antioxidant, antihypertensive, and antimicrobial effects, include maintaining gut balance and supporting overall well-being. The relationship between BAPs and gut microbiota is two-way: peptides selectively promote beneficial microbes, and the microbiota enzymatically convert peptides into bioactive metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids and altered bile acids, or further hydrolyze them into shorter BAPs. This interaction between gut microbiota and BAPs has been shown to confer significant therapeutic benefits from combined nutritional interventions in the management of chronic diseases, including obesity, diabetes, inflammatory bowel diseases, and neurological diseases. This review examines the current state of gut microbiota-targeted BAPs, including their sources, properties, and mechanisms. It underscores their contribution to microbial diversity and metabolic activity, which support immune balance and the functioning of the gut-brain axis. In addition, it addresses novel ways to increase the activity of BAPs with respect to stability and delivery. Challenges such as peptide bioavailability, microbiome diversity, and a lack of clinical evidence are also critically discussed. Future perspectives focus on leveraging omics technologies and personalized nutrition to unlock the potential of BAPs for therapeutic and functional food applications. The review indicates the promising potential of BAPs as microbiota-based, innovative, and useful agents in nutritional therapy.
Brij Pal Singh, Prabhashis Bose, Jae-Young Je· Frontiers in Nutrition· 0 citations
: Postbiotics—non-viable microbial components or metabolites derived from probiotics—have emerged as promising modulators of the gut microbiota (GM), offering probiotic-like health benefits without the risks associated with live microorganisms. The GM is a crucial determinant of human health, and its disturbance (known as dysbiosis) is closely linked to conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), colorectal cancer (CRC), sepsis, and metabolic syndromes. This review uniquely synthesizes mechanistic insights with therapeutic perspectives and summarizes current knowledge of the therapeutic potential of postbiotics to restore microbial balance and maintain intestinal homeostasis. Bioactive postbiotic molecules, including short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), bacteriocins, exopolysaccharides, antimicrobial peptides, and vitamins, play key roles in inhibiting pathogens, enhancing beneficial bacterial populations, modulating immune responses, and strengthening epithelial barriers, and could also serve as an alternative to antibiotics. Postbiotics demonstrated therapeutic potential across multiple diseases, including IBD, CRC, metabolic syndrome, sepsis, and antibiotic-resistant infections, primarily through modulation of the GM, enhancement of intestinal barrier integrity, and regulation of immune responses. SCFAs, such as butyrate, reduce inflammation in ulcerative colitis; propionate induces apoptosis in gastric cancer cells. Most of the data in this area are preclinical, and further studies are needed. Evidence from preclinical and mechanistic studies suggests that postbiotics may represent a safe, effective alternative or adjunct to probiotics and antibiotics in managing GM-associated disorders.
S. Ranjbar, Afsoon Asadollahi, Fatemeh Ghanimati et al.· Nutrition and Dietary Supple...· 0 citations
ABSTRACT Dietary polysaccharides are important bioactive components of functional foods and play a key role in modulating host metabolism through interactions with the gut microbiota. Lycium barbarum polysaccharides (LBP) are widely consumed as dietary supplements; however, their nutritional relevance in linking gut microbiota–associated metabolic regulation to extra‐intestinal tissue homeostasis remains incompletely understood. In this study, we investigated the effects of dietary LBP intake on gut microbiota composition, metabolic profiles, and retinal redox status using oxidatively stressed 661W photoreceptor cells and rd10 mice. In vitro, LBP exposure was associated with reduced intracellular reactive oxygen species accumulation and enhanced cellular antioxidant capacity under oxidative stress conditions. In vivo, dietary LBP intake was associated with partial preservation of retinal structural parameters, including outer nuclear layer thickness and retinal vascular features. Integrated 16S rRNA gene sequencing and untargeted metabolomics analyses demonstrated that dietary LBP intake was associated with coordinated modulation of gut microbiota composition and microbial‐derived metabolic pathways, particularly those related to pantothenate and coenzyme A biosynthesis, aromatic amino acid metabolism, and aminoacyl‐tRNA biosynthesis. These metabolic alterations were reflected in retinal metabolic profiles and accompanied by improved redox balance. Overall, this study highlights the nutritional significance of LBP as a functional polysaccharide and supports the concept that dietary modulation of gut microbiota–associated metabolism may contribute to maintaining retinal metabolic homeostasis. These findings provide a nutritional and food science perspective on the potential role of dietary polysaccharides in supporting tissue function beyond the gastrointestinal tract.
Yi-Jing Yang, Jun Peng, Danyang Li et al.· Food Science & Nutrition· 0 citations
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