Professor Bob Rastall, Professor of Food Biotechnology at the University of Reading, has presented research on an exciting, emerging area of microbiome modulation at the 5th Microbiome R&D and Business Collaboration Forum in San Diego.
Professor Bob Rastall, Professor of Food Biotechnology at the University of Reading, has presented research on an exciting, emerging area of microbiome modulation at the 5th Microbiome R&D and Business Collaboration Forum in San Diego. Professor Rastall’s presentation explored the possibility of developing optimised synbiotics, known as optibiotics, which have the potential to be far more effective than existing probiotics at achieving targeted health benefits, including reducing cholesterol and blood pressure.
Synbiotics are combinations of a probiotic and a prebiotic, which both are targeted at the same healthcare benefit. Most synbiotics to date have been mixtures of readily available carbohydrates and commercial probiotics, often driven by ease of availability rather than proven efficacy. Professor Rastall’s presentation asserts that a more effective approach to the development of synbiotics would be to use the metabolic machinery of the target bacterial strain to generate an oligosaccharide (prebiotic) mixture that is metabolizable by that producing bacterial strain. Such optimized mixtures would be considered optibiotics.
Professor Rastall’s proposals about the development of optimised synbiotics have already been put into practice. Research from the University of Reading, Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, and OptiBiotix Health, has previously shown that a naturally synthesised prebiotic can selectively increase the growth of the cholesterol-reducing probiotic, Lactobacillus plantarum LPLDL®, as well as its enhancing its cholesterol-reduction activity. The researchers used reverse enzyme technology to synthesise a prebiotic, LPGOS, to selectively enhance the growth and cholesterol-reducing activity of the LPLDL® probiotic.
LPLDL® was selected from over 4,000 other bacterial strains because of its ability to lower both cholesterol and blood pressure. In a previous study, it was found to reduce LDL cholesterol by up to 13.9%, and blood pressure by 5.1%. When combined with the LPGOS prebiotic, LPLDL® was found to increase the cholesterol lowering effect by over threefold in a 24-hour period.
Professor Rastall, who was involved in this synbiotic research, commented, “Using β‐galactosidases expressed by LPLDL® (LPGOS) we achieved the synthesis of GOS modulator that works in true synergy with the parent strain, not only increasing its population but also impacting on the biological activity the probiotic was selected for. This is the first time that true synergy has been demonstrated for a synbiotic, and suggests that these far more effective optimised synbiotics, will achieve greater health benefits than current probiotic and prebiotic products.”
The human microbiome
The human digestive tract contains a complex and diverse ecosystem of trillions of bacteria. Recently, advances in molecular and analytical techniques (metagenomics, metabolomics) have permitted identification and quantitation of species and strains of bacteria that inhabit the gastrointestinal tract, their metabolic activity, and interactions with the human host. These studies have provided greater insight into the role of gut and their metabolites in health and disease.
NIH https://commonfund.nih.gov/hmp/index
Web MD http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/what-your-gut-bacteria-say-your-health#1
About OptiBiotix
OptiBiotix was formed in March 2012 by Stephen O’Hara to develop compounds which modify the human microbiome – the collective genome of the microbes in the body – to prevent and manage human disease.
The aim of OptiBiotix is to discover and develop microbial strains, compounds and formulations, which modulate the human microbiome and can be used as food ingredients and supplements or active compounds for the prevention and management of human metabolic diseases, examples of which include obesity, cholesterol and lipid distribution and diabetes.
OptiBiotix has established a pipeline of microbiome modulators that can impact on lipid and cholesterol management, energy harvest and appetite suppression. The development pipeline is fuelled by its proprietary OptiScreen® and OptiBiotic® platform technologies designed to identify metabolic pathways and compounds that impact on human physiology and bring potential health benefits. These platforms are applicable across a wider range of other human diseases.
