(Research Journal) - Effectiveness of Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Prebiotic-like Components in Common Functional Foods

Abstract

The bioactive ingredients in commonly consumed food include, but are not limited to, prebiotics, prebiotic-like components, probiotics, and postbiotics. The bioactive ingredients in functional foods have also been associated with beneficial effects on human health. For example, the aid in shaping of gut microflora and promotion immunity. These functional components also contribute in preventing serious disease such as cardiovascular malfunction and tumorigenesis. However, the specific mechanisms of these positive influences on human health are still under investigation. In this review, we aim to emphasize the major contents of probiotics, prebiotics, and prebiotic-like components commonly found in consumable functional foods, and we present an overview of direct and indirect benefits they provide on human health. The major contributors are certanin families of metabolites, specifically short-chain fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids produced by probiotics, and prebiotics, or prebiotic-like components such as flavonoids, polyphenols, and vitamins that are found in functional foods. These functional ingredients in food influence the gut microbiota by stimulating the growth of beneficial microbes and production of beneficial metabolites that, in turn, have direct benefits to the host, while also providing protection from pathogens and maintaning a balanced gut ecosystem. The complex interactions that arise among functional food ingredients, human physiology, the gut microbiota, and their respective metabolic pathways have been found to minimize several factors that contribute to the incidence of chronic disease, such as inflammation oxidative stress.

KEYWORDS

bioactive ingredients, disease, functional food, gut microbiota, prebiotic, probiotic.

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DOI: 10.1111/1541-4337.12565

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