Microbiota analysis for risk assessment: evaluation of hazardous dietary substances and its potential role on the gut microbiome variability and dysbiosis

Abstract

The expansion of fields related to probiotics, microbiome‐targeted interventions and an evolving landscape for implementation across policy, industry and end users, signifies an era of important clinical translational changes. Characteristics and perception of traditional probiotics stemmed from the historical long‐term use of fermented products. Although the distinction between probiotic microorganisms and fermentation‐associated microbes is important, it is often confused as not all fermented foods are probiotic supplements. Current innovation in area of biotechnology and bioinformatics is emerging outside of the classical definitions and new probiotics will emerge from novel sources, challenging scientific as well as regulatory instructions. At the same time, the search for individual and group microbiome signatures – biomarkers in order to predict disease incidence, progression and response to treatment is a key area of microbiological and multidisciplinary research, enabled by efficient and powerful processing of large data sets. However, the regulation of marketed beneficial microbes and probiotics differs among countries and the basic level of classification, which depend on probiotic classification is not globally harmonised. At the same time, the regulation is very demanding to evaluate the safety of products on the market, so that only those products with scientific evidence benefits can obtain positive recognition in ways of health claims. Collaborative experimental and theoretical approaches and case studies have assisted the progress in this crosscutting area of research. There is a requirement to clearly specify criteria and provide details about ways and approaches of achieving those criteria with the intention that manufacturers can benefit from a transparent way of communicating product quality to end users.

Microbiota analysis for risk assessment of xenobiotics: cumulative xenobiotic exposure and impact on human gut microbiota under One Health approach

“…Among xenobiotics, a specific group of endocrine‐disrupting chemicals (EDCs) stand out, because of their adverse impact on specific aspects of human health related with the endogenous hormone system, including hormone production, release, transport, metabolism, binding, action or elimination (Cerk and Aguilera‐Gómez, 2022 ). The definition provided by the Endocrine Society describes an EDC as an ‘exogenous (non‐natural) chemical or a mixture of chemicals, that interferes with any aspect of hormone action’ (Gálvez‐Ontiveros et al., 2020 ).…”

“…ethinylestradiol [EE] and diethylstilbestrol [DES]), and per‐ and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Due to their wide usage in food packaging, building materials, cleaning products, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, and generally in the industry and agriculture (Acharya et al., 2022 ; Cerk and Aguilera‐Gómez, 2022 ; Ortiz et al., 2022 ), exposure occurs via many parallel pathways. In addition, the term microbiota‐disrupting chemicals (MDCs) was proposed by Aguilera et al.…”

Microbiota analysis for risk assessment of xenobiotics: toxicomicrobiomics, incorporating the gut microbiome in the risk assessment of xenobiotics and identifying beneficial components for One Health

“…This work builds upon a previous EU‐FORA project (Cerk and Aguilera‐Gomez, 2022 ) and aims to explore three areas of relevance to the microbiome in the context of OH. Firstly, the incorporation of the GM in RA of xenobiotics was explored.…”

“…Taxa culturing strategies, in the context of the interactional triangle between EDCs (obesogens)‐gut microbiota (dysbiosis vs eubiosis)‐human health (obesity vs leanness), are key in obtaining and selecting strains (associated with pro‐obesity and antiobesity phenotypes) with potential use as NGPs (López‐Moreno et al., 2021a ). The latter, unlike traditional probiotics, do not have a defined HoSU, and are thus subjected to more stringent regulatory requirements (O'Toole et al., 2017 ; Cerk and Aguilera‐Gomez, 2022 ). Nevertheless, strains isolated from the human gut could more readily be used under OH, e.g.…”

Integration of Omics Approaches Enhances the Impact of Scientific Research in Environmental Applications

“…On the other hand, when the cumulative exposure to xenobiotics disrupts the state of homeostasis of the microbiome, dysbiosis might occur, which is associated with disorders and diseases [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ]. Widely investigated are also the associations between the human microbiome and xenobiotics affecting the host [ 30 , 31 ].…”