Publication of scientific results on gut microbiome modulation

One of NutriLeads’ health ingredients derived from carrot fibre, i.e. cRG-I, has been assessed for its prebiotic properties using an original combination of in vitro models that mimic parts of the human intestinal tract and the promising results have been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal (Van den Abbeele et al, Nutrients 2020, 12(7), 1917; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12071917).

As expected for a prebiotic ingredient, cRG-I is not digested in conditions mimicking the upper intestinal tract of humans but rather rapidly fermented by the gut microbiota. Using a well-established in vitro model to study how the ingredient impacts the human colonic bacteria, it was shown that cRG-I leads to increased production of beneficial short chain fatty acids reputed for their importance in gut health.  Moreover, cRG-I is increasing the abundance of health beneficial bacteria such as bifidobacteria or bacteria displaying anti-inflammatory properties. In addition, the compounds resulting from the fermentation of cRG-I by the gut microbiota were shown to protect the gut barrier against an inflammatory stress in vitro. As a next step, these findings have to be confirmed in human studies but these promising pre-clinical results fully support to pursue further exploration of the health benefits provided by cRG-I and how it acts on the host immune system alongside with its capacity to beneficially modulate the microbiome.

This work was executed in collaboration with Prodigest BV as part of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreements No 811592 and Eurostars E! 10574-NIMF.