About this Research Topic
Foods aiming at digestive health constitute the second-largest positioning platform behind products tailored to general wellbeing. They usually contain probiotic microorganisms and/or prebiotic dietary bioactive fibers. To induce health benefits, probiotic products need to contain an adequate amount of living cells in order to be able to proliferate and colonize the gut. Ensuring the viability and functionality of probiotics and the effective modulation of microbiota through prebiotics to maximize health benefits to the host is a complex and intriguing topic of investigation. Beyond probiotics and prebiotics, bioactive compounds with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and compounds with targeted metabolic responses belong to the spectrum of ingredients used in functional food products.
Foods with specific metabolic targets are at the spearhead of scientific research due to strong associations between the gut microbiome, oxidative stress, inflammation, and metabolic health, including diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Currently, the functional market directed at digestive health is mainly focused on pharmaceutical products, such as pills or capsules, rather than processed foods. This is largely due to the inability to ascertain high probiotic cell viability levels and assure stability of bioactive ingredients under conditions that predominate in the food micro-environment and/or during processing and storage.
The goal of this Research Topic is to highlight novel functional foods with beneficial properties targeting the gut microbiome, thus filling the commercial gap and expanding the consumers' options with new products. In addition, the role of food composition/structure in gut microbiome modulation is a key factor to be considered in functional food product design, and manuscripts on this aspect would also be of interest.
Original Research and Review articles to be published in this topic should focus on the following aspects:
· novel functional food products impacting on the gut microbiome
· encapsulation/immobilization technology to ascertain high probiotic cell viability levels and stability of bioactive ingredients in the gut
· effective vehicles for targeting the delivery of beneficial microbes and/or bioactive compounds to the gut
· intestinal microbiota modulation by functional foods and bioactive components
· digestive health claims associated with the consumption of functional foods products modulating the gut microbiome
Foods with specific metabolic targets are at the spearhead of scientific research due to strong associations between the gut microbiome, oxidative stress, inflammation, and metabolic health, including diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Currently, the functional market directed at digestive health is mainly focused on pharmaceutical products, such as pills or capsules, rather than processed foods. This is largely due to the inability to ascertain high probiotic cell viability levels and assure stability of bioactive ingredients under conditions that predominate in the food micro-environment and/or during processing and storage.
The goal of this Research Topic is to highlight novel functional foods with beneficial properties targeting the gut microbiome, thus filling the commercial gap and expanding the consumers' options with new products. In addition, the role of food composition/structure in gut microbiome modulation is a key factor to be considered in functional food product design, and manuscripts on this aspect would also be of interest.
Original Research and Review articles to be published in this topic should focus on the following aspects:
· novel functional food products impacting on the gut microbiome
· encapsulation/immobilization technology to ascertain high probiotic cell viability levels and stability of bioactive ingredients in the gut
· effective vehicles for targeting the delivery of beneficial microbes and/or bioactive compounds to the gut
· intestinal microbiota modulation by functional foods and bioactive components
· digestive health claims associated with the consumption of functional foods products modulating the gut microbiome
Keywords: probiotics, prebiotics, bioactive ingredients, GI tract, microbiome
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
