Micronutrient deficiencies are a worldwide public health concern. Emerging evidence supports the ability of probiotics to enhance micronutrient status, which could aid in the prevention of non-communicable disease-associated malnutrition. This systematic review evaluated evidence of the efficacy of probiotic supplementation to improve micronutrient status in healthy subjects. The authors searched for published English language peer-reviewed journal articles in PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Google Scholar databases from inception to July 2020 using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The quality of eligible studies was assessed using the Revised Cochrane Risk-of-Bias tool (RoB)2 and Risk of Bias in Non-Randomized Studies of Interventions tool (ROBINS-I tool). Fourteen original studies out of 2790 met the inclusion criteria. The results indicated that, despite varying degrees of efficacy, the intake of certain probiotics in healthy subjects was associated with a positive impact on the status of certain micronutrients (vitamin B12, calcium, folate, iron and zinc). A limitation was that studies were widely heterogeneous in terms of participant age, probiotic strain, species, dosage, intervention duration, and form of administration. Additional clinical trials are warranted to determine the most effective strains of probiotics, doses and durations of interventions.
Phytochemicals are compounds synthesized in plants that result from secondary metabolism. As a part of plant-rich diets, phytochemicals are associated with wide ranging health benefits including antioxidant, anticancer, antimicrobial, anticlotting, anti-inflammatory effects. There are a wide variety of intrinsic and extrinsic factors that determines the rate and degree of release of phytochemicals from food (bioaccessibility) and the fraction that is absorbed (bioavailability), which greatly impact their physiological functions. During digestion, phytochemicals undergo extensive structural modifications as modulated by pH changes, digestive enzymes and gut microbial catabolism. These digestive processes generated absorbable phytochemical metabolites that differ greatly in structure and bioactivities from the native form found in foods. This chapter will discuss the variety of factors that affect the gastrointestinal processing of phytochemicals at the gut level and how this can affect their health modulating properties.
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