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Special Issue "The Probiotics and Prebiotics and Their Benefits for Health"

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A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Prebiotics and Probiotics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 26 August 2023 | Viewed by 4232

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Qixiao Zhai

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Guest Editor

School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
Interests: probiotics theory and technology; functional food research and development; gut microbiota and host health

Dr. Lianliang Liu

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Guest Editor

Department of Food Science and Engineering, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315832, China
Interests: regulation of dietary polyphenols on maillard reaction; evaluation of probiotic effect of polyphenols and regulation of immune metabolism of gut microbiota
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The goal of this Special Issue, entitled “Probiotics and Prebiotics and their Benefits for Health”, is to focus on the importance of nutrition with probiotics and prebiotics to improve gastrointestinal health in newborns, infants, and children.

Specifically, the aim is to clarify if probiotics and prebiotics can influence gut microbiota composition and host interaction favouring human health and preventing diseases.

There is increasing evidence that dysfunctional micro-ecosystems (e.g., reduced microbial diversity) may be associated with enteritis, such as inflammatory bowel disease, and several parenteral diseases such as obesity, diabetes, liver disease, cardiometabolic complications, and even cancer.

Therefore, understanding the mechanism through which the gut microbiota acts on host metabolism and regulates microbial composition through diet, prebiotics, probiotics, and antibiotics has a significant impact on human health. Most studies are based on infant formula supplemented with prebiotics. No evidence-based data currently exist on the effects of probiotics and/or prebiotics on children's health later in life. Future in-depth studies on the selection of specific prebiotics are still needed, in particular those that use various research means and establish a complete in vitro simulated intestinal system to evaluate the prebiotics and their mechanism on diseases.

Prof. Dr. Qixiao Zhai
Dr. Lianliang Liu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nutrients is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

prebiotics
probiotics
gut microbiota
metabolites
oligosaccharides
polysaccharides
protein hydrolysates
polyphenols
metabolic syndrome
inflammatory bowel disease

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

Open AccessArticle

Antidiabetic Activity of Potential Probiotics Limosilactobacillus spp., Levilactobacillus spp., and Lacticaseibacillus spp. Isolated from Fermented Sugarcane Juice: A Comprehensive In Vitro and In Silico Study

Chandana Kumari V. B.

Sujay S. Huligere

Ghallab Alotaibi

Abdulaziz K. Al Mouslem

Ammar Abdulraheem Bahauddin

Thippeswamy Boreddy Shivanandappa

and

Ramith Ramu

Nutrients 2023, 15(8), 1882; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15081882 - 13 Apr 2023

Viewed by 1154

Abstract

Probiotics are regarded as a potential source of functional foods for improving the microbiota in human gut. When consumed, these bacteria can control the metabolism of biomolecules, which has numerous positive effects on health. Our objective was to identify a probiotic putative Lactobacillus spp. from fermented sugarcane juice that can prevent α-glucosidase and α-amylase from hydrolyzing carbohydrates. Isolates from fermented sugarcane juice were subjected to biochemical, molecular characterization (16S rRNA) and assessed for probiotic traits. Cell-free supernatant (CS) and extract (CE) and also intact cells (IC) were examined for the inhibitory effect on α-glucosidase and α-amylase. CS of the strain showed the highest inhibition and was subjected to a liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LCMS) analysis to determine the organic acid profile. The in silico approach was employed to assess organic acid stability and comprehend enzyme inhibitors’ impact. Nine isolates were retained for further investigation based on the preliminary biochemical evaluation. Limosilactobacillus spp., Levilactobacillus spp., and Lacticaseibacillus spp. were identified based on similarity > 95% in homology search (NCBI database). The strains had a higher survival rate (>98%) than gastric and intestinal fluids, also a high capacity for adhesion (hydrophobicity > 56%; aggregation > 80%; HT-29 cells > 54%; buccal epithelial cells > 54%). The hemolytic assay indicated that the isolates could be considered safe. The isolates’ derivatives inhibited enzymes to varying degrees, with α-glucosidase inhibition ranging from 21 to 85% and α-amylase inhibition from 18 to 75%, respectively. The CS of RAMULAB54 was profiled for organic acid that showed the abundance of hydroxycitric acid, citric acid, and lactic acid indicating their role in the observed inhibitory effects. The in silico approach has led us to understand that hydroxycitric acid has the ability to inhibit both the enzymes (α-glucosidase and α-amylase) effectively. Inhibiting these enzymes helps moderate postprandial hyperglycemia and regulates blood glucose levels. Due to their promising antidiabetic potential, these isolates can be used to enhance intestinal health. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Probiotics and Prebiotics and Their Benefits for Health)

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Open AccessArticle

Effect of an Immune-Boosting, Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Food Supplement in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients: A Prospective Randomized Pilot Study

Sandra Reino-Gelardo

Marta Palop-Cervera

Nieves Aparisi-Valero

Ignacio Espinosa-San Miguel

Noelia Lozano-Rodríguez

Gonzalo Llop-Furquet

Laura Sanchis-Artero

Ernesto Cortés-Castell

Mercedes Rizo-Baeza

and

Xavier Cortés-Rizo

Nutrients 2023, 15(7), 1736; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15071736 - 01 Apr 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1096

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 disease is a serious global health problem. Few treatments have been shown to reduce mortality and accelerate time to recovery. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential effect of a food supplement (probiotics, prebiotics, vitamin D, zinc and selenium) in patients admitted with COVID-19. Methods: A prospective randomized non-blinded clinical trial was conducted in a sample of 162 hospitalized patients diagnosed with COVID-19 recruited over eight months. All patients received standard treatment, but the intervention group (n = 67) was given one food supplement stick daily during their admission. After collecting the study variables, a statistical analysis was performed comparing the intervention and control groups and a multivariate analysis controlling for variables that could act as confounding factors. Results: ROC curve analysis with an area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.840 (p < 0.001; 95%CI: 0.741–0.939) of the food supplement administration vs. recovery indicated good predictive ability. Moreover, the intervention group had a shorter duration of digestive symptoms compared with the control group: 2.6 ± 1.3 vs. 4.3 ± 2.2 days (p = 0.001); patients with non-severe disease on chest X-ray had shorter hospital stays: 8.1 ± 3.9 vs. 11.6 ± 7.4 days (p = 0.007). Conclusions: In this trial, the administration of a food supplement (Gasteel Plus^®) was shown to be a protective factor in the group of patients with severe COVID-19 and allowed early recovery from digestive symptoms and a shorter hospital stay in patients with a normal–mild–moderate chest X-ray at admission (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04666116). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Probiotics and Prebiotics and Their Benefits for Health)

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Open AccessArticle

Akkermansia muciniphila Cell-Free Supernatant Improves Glucose and Lipid Metabolisms in Caenorhabditis elegans

and

Nutrients 2023, 15(7), 1725; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15071725 - 31 Mar 2023

Viewed by 824

Abstract

To explore the mechanism by which Akkermansia muciniphila cell-free supernatant improves glucose and lipid metabolisms in Caenorhabditis elegans, the present study used different dilution concentrations of Akkermansia muciniphila cell-free supernatant as an intervention for with Caenorhabditis elegans under a high-glucose diet. The changes in lifespan, exercise ability, level of free radicals, and characteristic indexes of glucose and lipid metabolisms were studied. Furthermore, the expression of key genes of glucose and lipid metabolisms was detected by qRT-PCR. The results showed that A. muciniphila cell-free supernatant significantly improved the movement ability, prolonged the lifespan, reduced the level of ROS, and alleviated oxidative damage in Caenorhabditis elegans. A. muciniphila cell-free supernatant supported resistance to increases in glucose and triglyceride induced by a high-glucose diet and downregulated the expression of key genes of glucose metabolism, such as gsy-1, pygl-1, pfk-1.1, and pyk-1, while upregulating the expression of key genes of lipid metabolism, such as acs-2, cpt-4, sbp-1, and tph-1, as well as down-regulating the expression of the fat-7 gene to inhibit fatty acid biosynthesis. These findings indicated that A. muciniphila cell-free supernatant, as a postbiotic, has the potential to prevent obesity and improve glucose metabolism disorders and other diseases. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Probiotics and Prebiotics and Their Benefits for Health)

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Open AccessArticle

Anti-Inflammatory and Gut Microbiota Modulating Effects of Probiotic Lactobacillus paracasei MSMC39-1 on Dextran Sulfate Sodium-Induced Colitis in Rats

Boonyarut Ladda

Chittapon Jantararussamee

and

Nutrients 2023, 15(6), 1388; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15061388 - 13 Mar 2023

Viewed by 813

Abstract

Probiotics have been shown to possess several properties, depending on the strain. Some probiotics have important roles in preventing infection and balancing the immune system due to the interaction between the intestinal mucosa and cells in the immune system. This study aimed to examine the properties of three probiotic strains using the tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) inhibition test in colorectal adenocarcinoma cells (Caco-2 cells). It was revealed that the viable cells and heat-killed cells of the probiotic L. paracasei strain MSMC39-1 dramatically suppressed TNF-α secretion in Caco-2 cells. The strongest strains were then chosen to treat rats with colitis induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS). Viable cells of the probiotic L. paracasei strain MSMC39-1 reduced aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase in the serum and significantly inhibited TNF-α secretion in the colon and liver tissues. Treatment with the probiotic L. paracasei strain MSMC39-1 alleviated the colon and liver histopathology in DSS-induced colitis rats. Furthermore, supplementation with probiotic L. paracasei strain MSMC39-1 increased the genus Lactobacillus and boosted the other beneficial bacteria in the gut. Thus, the probiotic L. paracasei strain MSMC39-1 exhibited an anti-inflammation effect in the colon and modulated the gut microbiota. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Probiotics and Prebiotics and Their Benefits for Health)

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