About this Research Topic

Background

The gastrointestinal tract is a vital system that digest food, absorbs nutrients, and most importantly homes around 1014 microbes. The metabolites produced by these microbes have significant roles in maintaining gut health and the immune system. Any imbalance in the microbiome population (e.g., altered abundance of different bacterial species), usually with increased number of pathogens and food toxicants, triggers the production of metabolites with carcinogenic and genotoxic potential. The imbalance is described as dysbiosis and is linked with various diseases such as gastric cancer, diabetes, liver diseases, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, and colorectal cancer. Dysbiosis can be overcome by restoring the native gut microbiome. The administration of probiotics and prebiotics, or its combination - synbiotics, is one of the approaches instigated in restoring native microbiome.

Probiotics – live bacteria that when consumed are associated with health benefits – are either native species of the gut microbiome, or species that are generally regarded as safe. They should be dynamic enough to survive in harsh gut conditions to exert their beneficial effects. Prebiotics are the substrate utilized by probiotics, like dietary fibre. Probiotics, prebiotics and synbiotics have significant effects on the treatment of gut-related diseases as well as various other acute and chronic diseases. This has led to an increased research interest over; identification of new probiotic strains with better beneficial effects and elucidation of mechanisms of action through which they exerts the beneficial properties, identification of novel prebiotic sources, and development of potential synbiotic components for the treatment and management of various lifestyle-associated diseases.

Original Research and Review articles are welcome to be published in this Research Topic which enhance the knowledge on functions of probiotics and prebiotics or synbiotics towards the treatment and management of various chronic diseases such as colorectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. More insights are required to explain the mechanism by which these components employ the beneficial effects. Extensive reviews that summarize new insights in the role of pro/pre/synbiotics in treatment and management of various diseases are needed.

We welcome submissions related to the topic, including but not limited to the following:
• Nutritional role of probiotics, prebiotics, and/or synbiotics;
• Development of functional foods, nutraceuticals, or nutritional supplements utilizing probiotics, prebiotics, and/or synbiotics;
• Development of new synbiotic components for the prevention and management of lifestyle associated diseases;
• Identification of new prebiotic sources with enhanced probiotic efficiency;
• Identification of novel probiotic species with enhanced beneficial properties;
• Elucidating the mechanisms of action of prebiotics/probiotics and the secondary metabolites produced by them

Keywords: Probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, lifestyle associated diseases, functional foods

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