Unlocking the power of your gut: how a healthy microbiome boosts your immune system

August 18th, 2023

Did you know that your immune system’s performance is intricately tied to the health of your gut microbiome? In this article, we delve into the fascinating connection between your gut microbiome and immune system. Discover the key role of the gut microbiome in immune function and learn about the dietary components that can nurture a diverse and thriving gut ecosystem.

A symbiotic relationship: gut microbiome and immune system harmony

The human body is a bustling ecosystem housing trillions of microorganisms, collectively known as the microbiome. Among these, the gut microbiome stands out as a vibrant community of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites (1).

This intricate network collaborates to maintain a balanced blend of beneficial microorganisms, protecting us from potential invaders.

Recent advancements have illuminated the gut microbiome’s dynamic involvement in our well-being, extending beyond passive existence.

This intricate web of microorganisms actively influences various bodily functions, including bolstering the development and efficacy of the immune system. Our immune system, in turn, maintains a delicate equilibrium, defending against pathogens while avoiding autoimmune responses (2).

Microbiome’s immune-boosting strategies

Short-Chain Fatty Acids (SCFAs)

At the heart of the gut microbiota’s influence on immunity lies the production of Short-Chain Fatty Acids (SCFAs) through dietary fiber fermentation in the large intestine (3).

These SCFAs, such as acetate, propionate, and butyrate, play a pivotal role in maintaining gut balance and modulating immune responses. They orchestrate immune cell functions, like regulatory T cells and antigen-presenting cells, and stimulate cytokine and chemokine production, bolstering immunity.

Furthermore, SCFAs can directly quell pathogenic activity by suppressing virulence-related genes, curbing potential threats.

Fortifying the barricade: tight junctions

The gut’s tight junctions act as gatekeepers, upholding the integrity of the intestinal barrier (4). Inflammation or infections can disrupt these barriers, allowing undesirable substances to escape into the bloodstream, triggering immune responses (5, 6).

SCFAs step in as allies here, contributing to the assembly of robust tight junctions within intestinal cell walls. This reinforcement prevents the escape of harmful toxins from the gut, bolstering the gut wall’s ability to shield against infections (5).

When this symbiotic relationship thrives, the immune system guards us against infections. However, an unbalanced microbiota composition might trigger inflammation, autoimmune disorders, and chronic diseases (1, 5).

Strategies to help the gut ecosystem flourish

A diverse and balanced gut microbiome is universally recognized as vital for our health (7). Research highlights that such diversity empowers immune responses against infections while reducing autoimmune responses. Conversely, a low-diversity microbiome is linked to chronic inflammation and an elevated risk of colorectal cancer.

To nurture a flourishing and diverse gut microbiome, prioritizing a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle is very important.

Choose for a spectrum of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein sources. These foods, rich in fiber, prebiotics, and nutrients, provide nourishment for beneficial gut bacteria.

1. Fiber: the gut’s aid for immunity

Fiber’s role in gut health is crucial, as it bolsters microbiome diversity. A diet rich in fiber, found in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, enhances gut bacteria abundance and diversity. This, in turn, augments immune function, reducing chronic disease risks (8).

2. Prebiotics: fuel for beneficial bacteria

Prebiotics, a specific type of fiber, serve as sustenance for our beneficial gut inhabitants. Foods like onions, garlic, leeks, asparagus, bananas, and whole grains are brimming with prebiotics, nurturing a thriving microbial community.

3. Water: hydration and gut motility

Staying hydrated is crucial for optimal gut function. Drinking plenty of water helps maintain proper gut motility and prevents constipation. Adequate hydration supports the movement of food through the digestive tract, allowing beneficial bacteria to thrive and contribute to a healthier gut.

4. Probiotics and postbiotics: allies for immunity

Fermented foods like yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, and kimchi harbor probiotics—live bacteria conferring health benefits. Additionally, postbiotics, metabolic by-products or components produced during fermentation, like SCFAs, amplify the benefits. Consuming these products directly ingests these components, bolstering health.

5. Synbiotics: Uniting Prebiotics and Probiotics

Synbiotics, the blend of prebiotics and probiotics, synergistically promote gut health. Examples include yogurt with inulin or fructooligosaccharides (FOS), and kefir with galactooligosaccharides (GOS).

6. Reducing stress levels

Besides diet-related strategies, there are other ways to help your gut stay healthy. Stress can negatively impact the gut-brain axis and disrupt gut health. Practicing stress-reduction techniques like meditation or deep breathing can have a positive impact on both your mental well-being and gut health.

Cultivate your gut for immune resilience

In summary, the gut microbiome profoundly impacts the immune system’s effectiveness. A thriving and varied gut ecosystem fortifies us against infections and chronic ailments, while an imbalanced one heightens vulnerability. By embracing a well-rounded diet full of fiber, prebiotics, and fermented foods, we can nurture our gut microbiome, bolstering overall health.

Why gut health is key to your overall well-being

April 28th, 2023

Research and professionals often mention that gut health is essential to overall well-being. However, what exactly is meant with the term gut health? How is the gut linked to well-being, and why is this important? In this article, we will explore the gut’s role in the gastrointestinal tract, the gut health, and its role on maintaining a good overall health.

The gut’s role in the gastrointestinal tract

The gut is not only important for the digestion and uptake of nutrients from food, but it also forms one of the most prominent barriers that protect us from many different pathogens.
Intestinal health can also affect mood and cognition through communication between the gut and the brain. The microorganisms that reside in the gut play a major role in how the health of the gut influences well-being.

The gut is also called the gastrointestinal tract or the digestive tract. It consists of the entire pathway from when food first enters the body and the remnants that leave the body again. Along the way, the food gets digested, and nutrients are absorbed to be used as energy sources and building blocks, in order to support the overall physiological functioning of the body.

The intestines are of utmost importance in this process, as this is the site where most digestion and absorption of nutrients takes place.

What is the structure of the gut?

The gut is approximately 9 meters long, with the small intestine taking up 6 meters of this length.
The lining of the gut consists of 4 distinct layers. The villi and microvilli that texture the gut epithelium, increase the surface area at which the absorption of nutrients can take place.
Underneath the outermost layer, blood vessels and lymph vessels are in close proximity to the surface of the gut. This allows for the fast absorption of nutrients into the bloodstream.

The gut contains many cells that are important for immune function. They facilitate the secretion of enzymes and mucus into the lumen, or hormones and other messaging molecules into the blood. The lymphatic system is part of this, as it is home to many immune cells that can fight pathogenic intruders.
A protective mucus layer covers the epithelium, which makes it more difficult for pathogens to pass through.

Gut microbiome

Another important component of the gut are the commensal microorganisms that reside there; the gut microbiota. These microorganisms consist of many different species of bacteria, archaea, viruses, and fungi, and the composition is unique for every person.
Bacteria make up the vast majority of the gut microbiome, with around 1000 different bacterial species that reside in your gut!

The microbes in the gut elicit many important functions. They support energy metabolism, by fermenting otherwise undigestible dietary fibres into short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). SCFAs can be used as an energy source for intestinal cells, and serve as anti-inflammatory signalling molecules. Read more about SCFAs and their importance to gut health here!
Due to their presence in large quantity, the gut microbiota can oppose colonization by pathogens, stimulate tolerance towards antigens, and induce the production of the protective mucus layer.

What is gut health?

Gut health refers to the overall functioning of the gut, in the absence of symptoms of gastrointestinal distress. The gut microbiome plays a central role in this; there has to be a balance between the helpful and potentially harmful microorganisms in the gut, as this can affect the integrity of the gut. Therefore, crosstalk between these microorganisms and the gut epithelium plays a pivotal role in one’s health status.

There are multiple factors that can affect the composition of the gut microbiota, influencing the function and integrity of the gut barrier. These include environmental factors, including where you live, your age, what you eat, how physically active you are, but also stress levels, and the use of antibiotics, as well as genetic factors.

Why is gut health important?

Immunology

The gut forms a protective barrier against gut microbes, pathogens, food antigens, and toxins to which the body is exposed in the gut. In fact, the intestine forms the largest internal barrier, and is therefore essential for the protections against harmful substances. Next to the physical barrier, as many as 70-80% of the immune cells reside in the gut.

The immune cells in the gut secrete antibodies and antimicrobial proteins. Together with the epithelial and mucus barrier, they protect the underlying tissues form the translocation of pathogens that might be present in the lumen of the gut.

The cells of the gut are held together by so-called tight junctions, which can loosen to become more ‘’leaky’’. On the one hand, this can be beneficial by aiding in the absorption of nutrients, or disposing of the inflammatory stimuli that did manage to cross the gut barrier (diarrhoea).

On the other hand, an excessively leaky gut allows for ‘’bad’’ bacteria and other pathogens to enter the blood stream and cause (chronic) inflammation. This can further increase gut barrier dysfunction and disease. Dysbiosis – an imbalance between the favourable and unfavourable microbes in the gut – are a major cause of a leaky gut. (1, 2)

Gut-brain axis

Gut health is also important for brain health and cognitive function. There is bidirectional communication between the central nervous system – the brain, and the nervous system that resides in the gut. Interestingly, the majority – up to 90% – of the body’s serotonin is produced in the gut. Serotonin is the so-called ‘’feel-good’’ chemical, which plays an important role in the modulation of mood, learning, and memory.

The gut microbiota play an important role in the communication between the gut and the brain. The SCFAs produced by the gut microbiota are able to cross the blood-brain barrier, and directly communicate with the brain. Likewise, dysbiosis of the gut microbiome can alter the blood-brain barrier, possibly contributing to inflammation of the central nervous system, which is linked to depression and anxiety-like disorders (3).

Curious to know more about the gut-brain axis? Read more about it here!

How to support Gut Health?

There are plenty of ways to support gut health. First of all, probiotics can be used to maintain a healthy community of microorganisms, by supplementing directly with live microorganisms. Next to that, prebiotics derived from non-digestible carbohydrates can be used to selectively stimulate the growth of intestinal bacteria. Learn more about prebiotics here!

Another way to enhance gut health is through the use of the bacterial products or metabolites released from microbial fermentation; the so-called postbiotics. In this article, we will tell you more about the use and benefits of postbiotics.

Gut health is the foundation of good health

All in all, it is quite evident that keeping the gut healthy plays is of great importance for one’s overall well-being. This long tract, which is the home to many different microorganisms, takes care of digesting food and absorbing nutrients needed to perform all basic functions. Next to that, it plays crucial role in the defence against pathogens, and through its bidirectional communication with the brain, has a significant impact on mood and cognitive function.

How can flavonoids improve gut health?

February 15th, 2023

Flavonoids are important polyphenols that can exert beneficial effects in the body. Due to their antioxidative properties and metabolism, they can improve gut health and change the gut microbiome. In this article, we will describe how flavonoids, and especially hesperidin and naringin, can change the gut microbiome composition, increase gut barrier function, enhance the immune system, and altogether improve gut health.

What are flavonoids?

Flavonoids are a group of phytonutrients (chemicals of plants) that are found in almost all fruits and vegetables. Flavonoids give color to fruits and vegetables, but are also found in cacao, coffee and tea. There are more than 6,000 types of flavonoids.

Since there are many types of flavonoids, they also have a wide range of beneficial effects, such as reducing chronic inflammation, and reducing risks associated with cancer and cardiovascular diseases (1, 2). Thus, implementing different flavonoids in your daily diet could be beneficial your health.

Flavonoids and gut health

Gut health and the gut microbiome have gained a lot of interest in the past years, since the gut microbiome and its metabolites are recognized as important regulators of host health.

The gut barrier is an important barrier because it acts as a physical defence against toxins and microorganisms. This barrier should remain intact to function properly.

Flavonoids may improve intestinal barrier function via inhibition of inflammatory proteins such as nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), and via reduction of oxidative stress.

Flavonoids also contribute to the preservation of the intestinal tight junction barrier and structure, which is important for remaining the physical barrier for pathogens (3).

Flavonoids can stimulate short chain fatty acids to increase gut health

Additionally, it is found that flavonoids can increase faecal short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which may be a result of increased SCFA production in the gut. SCFAs have different beneficial effects for the host and gut health. These benefits include serving as energetic fuel for intestinal epithelial cells, and improving intestinal barrier function (4, 5).

An important SCFA for gut health is butyrate. It can bind to G-protein coupled receptors. Upon binding, different anti-inflammatory signalling pathways can be promoted in macrophages and dendritic cells, which are important cells in the immune system of the colon (6).

Thus, flavonoids can increase gut barrier function and SCFA production, and potentially enhance the immune system via butyrate. Therefore, they are beneficial for gut health and it’s also shown in human studies that they can be used for inflammatory bowel diseases! (3)

Two flavonoids for gut health; What are hesperidin and naringin?

Hesperidin and naringin are flavanones , a subclass of flavonoids. These flavanones are mostly present in freshly prepared juices of citrus fruit, such as grapefruit, oranges and lemons. But it’s worth noting that hesperidin can be obtained in higher concentrations than naringin. Both compounds are even more abundant in the peels of these citrus fruits.

After oral consumption, hesperidin and naringin reach the colon almost completely intact, because they are difficult to degrade by the enzymes in the stomach and the small intestine.

This means the gut microbiota can digest them. They do this by releasing α-rhamnosidase, which converts hesperidin and naringin to hesperetin and naringenin. These metabolites are more bioavailable to the body, resulting in higher uptake by the gut into the blood, meaning they can be used by other tissues (7).

Hesperidin and naringin can feed specific bacteria, meaning they can influence the microbiome. It was shown that naringin could reduce microbial dysbiosis caused by high fat diet in mice. This means that harmful bacteria were reduced and there was an increase in beneficial bacteria (8). The same was shown for hesperidin in rats (9).

Hesperidin and naringin also play a role in immune system regulation. They can inhibit gut inflammation and oxidative stress by increasing antioxidant levels. By bringing gut inflammation down, the gut barrier stays intact as a physical defence against pathogens.

That hesperidin and naringin reduce gut inflammation was not only shown for them individually, but also when they were combined in mice.

Hesperidin and naringin: Hero flavonoids of MicrobiomeX®

Hesperidin and naringin are the focus of many clinical trials done by BioActor, as the product MicrobiomeX® is a natural extract from Citrus sinensis & paradisi, consisting of both flavonoids.

In vitro simulations of the human colon with the TIM-2 system showed that MicrobiomeX® could increase butyrate producing bacteria Roseburia spp. and acetate producing bacteria B. eggerthii (9). As mentioned before, butyrate is an important SCFA for gut health.

Besides in vitro studies, there have also been done clinical trials on the butyrate increasing properties of MicrobiomeX®. All clinical trials are available in the MicrobiomeX® White Paper.

It has also been found that by consumption of MicrobiomeX® calprotectin levels went down, which could indicate that MicrobiomeX® helps to bring gut inflammation down.

MicrobiomeX® combines the benefits of the flavonoids hesperidin and naringin and is therefore an ideal ingredient for gut health. Do you wish to read more about the studies described in this blog? Download our whitepaper on MicrobiomeX® below.

Short-chain fatty acids and their importance to gut health

December 14th, 2022

Short-chain fatty acids are saturated fatty acids that play an important role in gut health. They have several functions in human metabolism. Increasing the level of short-chain fatty acids in the gut might be a beneficial strategy to support overall health. Consumption of prebiotics and/or postbiotics can lead to higher levels of short-chain fatty acids.

What are short-chain fatty acids?

The gut microbiome is the community of microorganisms that can be found living in the gut. Evidence that bacteria in the gut are important to your health is growing each day. That’s why it is important to have a good balance of different bacteria in the gut. Not having a well-balanced microbiome is an indicator for several health issues, such as obesity (1).

The bacteria in the gut partially fulfill their role in health by making short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). SCFAs are saturated fatty acids that contain six or fewer carbon molecules.

SCFAs are produced by the microbiota when they break down dietary fibers and resistant starches that are not metabolized by the body. To break these substrates down, the microbiota do not need oxygen, which is why this process is called anaerobic fermentation.

The most important SCFAs that are produced in the gut are acetate, propionate, and butyrate, and all of them have different effects on gut health (2).

Following the production of SCFAs by microbiota, they are taken up by the first layer of gut cells. They are used directly as fuel by these gut cells and if the colonocytes don’t metabolize them, they are used elsewhere, for example as an energy source for liver cells (3).

The benefits of short-chain fatty acids

Other than being fuel for different types of cells, SCFAs have a beneficial effect on your gut health.

Short-chain fatty acids maintain the intestinal barrier

One of the benefits of SCFAs is that they help maintain the intestinal barrier. The intestinal barrier is important because it forms a layer of cells that separates the inside of your body from everything that passes through your gastrointestinal tract.

The structural integrity of the gut wall is key, as pathogens (e.g., viruses, bacteria, and toxins) can enter the body if there are gaps between cells of the gut wall.

SCFAs help preserve the intestinal barrier by feeding the cells of the gut wall and by stimulating the dilation of blood vessels, resulting in more blood flow to these cells. This is positive as the cells will get more oxygen.

Short-chain fatty acids increase mucus production in the gut

SCFAs have also been shown to increase mucus production in the gut. Mucus is a slimy substance that forms a protective layer on your gut wall.

An increase in mucus production is beneficial since the protective layer between the intestinal cells and the contents of your gut will be thicker. The thicker the better, meaning that this improves the function of the mucus and decreases the risks of pathogenic infiltration (3).

Short-chain fatty acids reduce gut inflammation

Gut inflammation is often seen in older people or people with irritable bowel syndrome. SCFAs help bring this inflammation down by altering the DNA expression of gut cells.

The result of this alteration is a decrease in the release of chemokines, which are signaling proteins that are usually involved in white blood cell attraction. Reducing the recruitment of white blood cells is an anti-inflammatory action (4).

Short-chain fatty acids can induce satiety

Researchers have demonstrated that SCFAs are able to modify food intake by promoting satiety and the SCFA responsible for that is propionate, which is also produced by the gut bacteria.

Propionate is transferred to the liver where it can bind to specific receptors and this leads the liver to start making gut hormones that induce satiety and thus lower hunger (5).

In short, SCFAs are relevant for gut health, but for overall health as well, which means it is valuable to raise the level of SCFAs in the gut. One way to achieve a higher level of SCFAs is by consuming prebiotics and, less familiar to most people, postbiotics.

What are prebiotics?

Prebiotics are non-digestible food ingredients that have a health benefit to the host. There are different types of prebiotics, and they have several health benefits. These health benefits range from supporting your immune system to providing energy to microbiota that help maintain gut health.

Prebiotics are food compounds, such as fibers and starches, that are not digested by the human digestive system. This means that the prebiotics reach the gut and the microbiota while still intact. The microbiota can digest them, leading to the creation of substrates that can be useful for human health.

How can prebiotics lead to higher levels of short-chain fatty acids?

Prebiotics go through anaerobic fermentation, which results in SCFA production. This means that taking prebiotics can help increase SCFA levels in the gut. As we have mentioned above, there are several reasons why you would want this! 

There are several food products that contain high levels of prebiotic fibers, but it is also possible to increase prebiotic intake by taking supplements.

One example of a prebiotic fiber food is chicory root. It contains high amounts of prebiotic fiber inulin. Other good foods are arabinoxylan rich foods, such as wheat, corn, rice and oat. Arabinoxylans have a lot of health benefits and they have strong prebiotic properties.

The downside of prebiotics is that everyone has a different microbiome composition, which means that everyone also experiences different outcomes of prebiotic consumption.

For this reason, research has been done on alternatives. This led to an increase in interest in something that is more unknown than prebiotics, namely postbiotics.

Postbiotics are bacterial products, meaning that they aren’t fermented by the gut microbiota after consumption. An example of postbiotics are different short-chain fatty acids, as these are products of the microbiota.

Do you want to know more about postbiotics? Read this article.

How can MicrobiomeX® support SCFA levels?

MicrobiomeX® is an ingredient based on citrus flavonoids that can boost the immune system and improve gut defense. It has several ways to boost gut health and your immune system.

One way MicrobiomeX® helps is by promoting the growth of butyrate-producing strains of bacteria in the gut. Among these are the Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Clostridium leptum and Roseburia. As mentioned before, butyrate is a SCFA that has several health benefits on the host.

Want to read more about MicrobiomeX®? Click here!

The benefits and challenges of synbiotic dietary supplements

November 8th, 2022

In the last years, synbiotic supplements have emerged as an interesting approach to improve gut health. Instead of using only pre- or probiotics, synbiotic products combine both. There are two types of synbiotics, namely complementary and synergistic synbiotics. Currently, most of the synbiotics on the market are complementary products since the formulation and research of synbiotics are quite challenging. In this article, we will explain synbiotic supplements in more detail, including the benefits and formulation challenges.

What are synbiotic dietary supplements?

The international scientific association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP), defines synbiotics as: “a mixture comprising live microorganisms and substrate(s) selectively utilized by host microorganisms that confers a health benefit on the host” (1).

There are two types of synbiotic products: complementary and synergistic synbiotics. Complementary synbiotics are the most found on the market. This type should contain pre- and probiotic compounds that clinically show a health benefit together, but also when used independently from each other. Hence, they do not have to interact with each other.

On the other hand, synergistic synbiotics do not necessarily contain pro- or prebiotic compounds. Instead, they should contain microorganisms and substrates that are selectively utilized by the provided bacteria in the product. In this case, the combination should have a greater beneficial effect than the microorganisms or substrates independently (2).

Curious to know about prebiotics? Find out more!

What are the benefits of synbiotic dietary supplements?

Pre- and probiotic products can have beneficial effects on gut health, immune function and the production of beneficial metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids. Synbiotic products could have the same health effects, and they potentially decrease cardiovascular risk factors, markers of insulin resistance and prevalence of metabolic syndrome as well (3).

Furthermore, synbiotic formulations must contain living bacterial strains and the substrates that can be used by these bacterial species specifically. In this way, the species have the chance to feed themselves, proliferate, and adhere to the intestinal wall of the host.

Another advantage of such synergistic dietary supplement formulations, is that they could address the “responder/non-responder” phenomenon (2).

The “responder/non-responder” phenomenon means that some subjects respond to a pre- or probiotic product, whereas others do not experience any beneficial effect. The difference could be caused by the fact that everyone has a unique microbial composition in the gut and therefore reacts differently to the treatments.

By providing the bacterial strains and their substrates simultaneously, the supplied bacteria will have an advantage compared to other bacterial strains that were already present in the gut, since they already have their selectively fermentable substrate to grow on. They could subsequently outcompete some resident microbial strains and establish a niche in the gut.

In other words, the substrate serves as a sort of fertilizer for the supplied bacterial strains and increases the chance that the bacterial strain will colonize and establish in the gut. In this way, it may be more likely that a subject will respond to the supplement or product and experience a beneficial effect!

The main challenges in formulating synbiotic dietary supplements

Although synergistic synbiotics have a lot of potential, formulating them comes with some challenges:

• Prebiotics or substrates often need to be consumed in larger amounts to have a beneficial effect, which may go along with gastro-intestinal complaints such as feeling bloated or flatulence. To limit these complaints, prebiotics may be added in lower doses, risking the loss of their beneficial health effects.

• Microorganisms are highly sensitive to the environment, which makes it difficult to store the synbiotic products under many circumstances.

• The water activity of the substrate: Water activity is a measure of water in a product that is available to react with or attach itself to other material, also known as ‘free’ water. Products with a higher water activity are more likely to be affected by bacteria and fungi. Therefore a substrate with a low water activity should be chosen (4).

Besides formulation challenges, researching the synergistic synbiotic effects comes with some difficulties.

The synbiotics that are now often used in studies have been formulated based on criteria such as shelf life, cost, and availability, rather than on metabolic, functional or other characteristics of the microorganisms or substrates.

In most studies, Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria are included as the probiotic component and inulin, various oligosaccharides, or dietary fibres are chosen as prebiotic ingredient, yet only one human trial showed beneficial effects (5, 6).

To screen for new promising synbiotics, in vitro studies will first be performed because clinical trials are very expensive and time-consuming. In vitro models simulating the lower and upper gastrointestinal can be helpful, such as the TIM1 and TIM2 model. The TIM-2 model is a dynamic gastrointestinal model, which is used for in-vitro research.

These models can be used to assess the survival of a probiotic through the gastrointestinal tract and the effect of synbiotics on gut microbiota.

MicrobiomeX®: the ingredient of choice for your synbiotic formula

To limit the gastro-intestinal complaints caused by high dosages of substrates, other substrates that have beneficial effects in lower dosages, such as polyphenols, could be used. The polyphenols can be transformed into bioactive molecules or into metabolites that can be used by other microorganisms, eventually resulting in a health benefit for the host.

MicrobiomeX® is a first-in-class Flavobiotic® researched and developed by BioActor. It is a natural ingredient from citrus, consisting of two active flavanones: hesperidin and naringin. BioActor combined these two powerful phenolic compounds in a unique complex ideal for the formulation of synbiotic dietary supplements in doses ranging from 250 to 500 mg.

Thanks to its proven high stability in combination with probiotics and its low water activity, MicrobiomeX® is an ideal ingredient to formulate synbiotic dietary supplements. Specifically, MicrobiomeX® can be used as a substrate, and can be metabolized in the gut by bacteria possessing the ramnosidase enzymes such as Lactobacillus acidophilus LA-5, Lactobacillus Brevis and B. animalis ssp. Lactis (7).

After being metabolized, not only does MicrobiomeX® promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut, but the active metabolites that are released in the gut exert a direct antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect resulting in improved overall gut health.