Potential Use of Marine Seaweeds as Prebiotics: A Review

Abstract

Human gut microbiota plays an important role in several metabolic processes and human diseases. Various dietary factors, including complex carbohydrates, such as polysaccharides, provide abundant nutrients and substrates for microbial metabolism in the gut, affecting the members and their functionality. Nowadays, the main sources of complex carbohydrates destined for human consumption are terrestrial plants. However, fresh water is an increasingly scarce commodity and world agricultural productivity is in a persistent decline, thus demanding the exploration of other sources of complex carbohydrates. As an interesting option, marine seaweeds show rapid growth and do not require arable land, fresh water or fertilizers. The present review offers an objective perspective of the current knowledge surrounding the impacts of seaweeds and their derived polysaccharides on the human microbiome and the profound need for more in-depth investigations into this topic. Animal experiments and in vitro colonic-simulating trials investigating the effects of seaweed ingestion on human gut microbiota are discussed.

Animal-Origin Prebiotics Based on Chitin: An Alternative for the Future? A Critical Review

“…Other important Firmicutes genera are Lactobacillus, Bacillus, Enterococcus and Ruminococcus [20]. Regarding the phylum Bacteroidetes, the predominant genus is Bacteroides (about 90% of total Bacteroidetes), Prevotella also being a relevant genus [5]. The phylum Actinobacteria is proportionally less abundant and is mainly represented by the genus Bifidobacterium [8].…”

“…Thus, conventional agriculture presents concerns. For example, fresh water (an essential resource) is a very scarce commodity, and progressive desertification of the earth's surface is taking place and will probably be aggravated in the future by global warming and desertification process [5]. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) [6], it is expected a progressive decline in global agricultural productivity of about 1% per year.…”

“…The FAO (2006) defines prebiotics as "undigestible food ingredients that beneficially affect the host by selectively stimulating the growth and/or activity of one or a limited number of bacterial species that are already established in the colon and therefore improve the health of the host" [13]. Several components of DF recognized as prebiotics [5] and used as functional ingredients in the food industry [14], with the aim to act as substrates that are used selectively by host microorganisms that confer a health benefit [15].…”

Analytical Technology in Nutrition Analysis

“…This Special Issue has received remarkably positive feedback, with many contributions submitted by numerous geographically diverse scientists, resulting in a collection of 10 publications, including two exhaustive review articles [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Among the contributing authors, authors can be found from Asia (China, India, and Uzbekistan), Europe (Spain), South America (Brazil and Chile) and North America (Mexico).…”

“…In view of the results, both G. corticata and G. edulis contain important nutrients for human health and are possible natural functional foods [15]. More generally, a wide review about the current knowledge surrounding the impacts of seaweeds and their derived polysaccharides on the human microbiota is also presented, in which potential benefits against chronic non-transmissible diseases were discussed [16].…”