Can Supplemented Skim Milk (SKM) Boost Your Gut Health?

Identification of the serum metabolites associated with cow milk consumption in Chinese Peri-/Postmenopausal women

Cow milk consumption (CMC) and downstream alterations of serum metabolites are commonly considered important factors regulating human health status. Foods may lead to metabolic changes directly or indirectly through remodelling gut microbiota (GM). We sought to identify the metabolic alterations in Chinese Peri-/Postmenopausal women with habitual CMC and explore if the GM mediates the CMC-metabolite associations. 346 Chinese Peri-/Postmenopausal women participants were recruited in this study. Fixed effects regression and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) were applied to reveal alterations of serum metabolic features in different CMC groups. Spearman correlation coefficient was computed to detect metabolome-metagenome association. 36 CMC-associated metabolites including palmitic acid (FA(16:0)), 7alpha-hydroxy-4-cholesterin-3-one (7alphaC4), citrulline were identified by both fixed effects regression (FDR < 0.05) and PLS-DA (VIP score > 2). Some significant metabolite-GM associations were observed, including FA(16:0) with gut species Bacteroides ovatus, Bacteroides sp.D2. These findings would further prompt our understanding of the effect of cow milk on human health.

Fructan-type prebiotic dietary fibers: Clinical studies reporting health impacts and recent advances in their technological application in bakery, dairy, meat products and beverages

Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) and inulin are the most used fructans in food manufacturing, including bakery, dairy, meat products and beverages. In this context, this review investigated the recent findings concerning health claims associated with a diet supplemented with fructans according to human trial results. Fructans have been applied in different food classes due to their proven benefits to human health. Human clinical trials have revealed several effects of fructans supplementation on health such as improved glycemic control, growth of beneficial gut bacteria, weight management, positive influence on immune function, and others. These dietary fibers have a wide range of compounds with different molecular sizes, implying a great variety of technological properties depending on the food application of interest. Inulin has been mainly applied as a fat substitute and prebiotic ingredient. In general, inulin reduces the energy content and improves the structure, viscosity, emulsion, and water retention parameters of food products. Meanwhile, FOS have been more successful when used as a sucrose substitute and prebiotic ingredient. However, overall, FOS and inulin are promising alternatives for the development of structured systems dedicated to increase the functionality of foods and beverages besides reducing fat in bakery, dairy, and meat products.

Strategies to Assess the Impact of Sustainable Functional Food Ingredients on Gut Microbiota

Nowadays, it is evident that food ingredients have different roles and distinct health benefits to the consumer. Over the past years, the interest in functional foods, especially those targeting gut health, has grown significantly. The use of industrial byproducts as a source of new functional and sustainable ingredients as a response to such demands has raised interest. However, the properties of these ingredients can be affected once incorporated into different food matrices. Therefore, when searching for the least costly and most suitable, beneficial, and sustainable formulations, it is necessary to understand how such ingredients perform when supplemented in different food matrices and how they impact the host's health. As proposed in this manuscript, the ingredients' properties can be first evaluated using in vitro gastrointestinal tract (GIT) simulation models prior to validation through human clinical trials. In vitro models are powerful tools that mimic the physicochemical and physiological conditions of the GIT, enabling prediction of the potentials of functional ingredients per se and when incorporated into a food matrix. Understanding how newly developed ingredients from undervalued agro-industrial sources behave as supplements supports the development of new and more sustainable functional foods while scientifically backing up health-benefits claims.

Metagenomic study of the gut microbiota associated with cow milk consumption in Chinese peri-/postmenopausal women

Cow milk consumption (CMC) and alterations of gut bacterial composition are proposed to be closely related to human health and disease. Our research aims to investigate the changes in human gut microbial composition in Chinese peri-/postmenopausal women with different CMC habits. A total of 517 subjects were recruited and questionnaires about their CMC status were collected; 394 subjects were included in the final analyses. Fecal samples were used for studying gut bacterial composition. All the subjects were divided into a control group (n = 248) and a CMC group (n = 146) according to their CMC status. Non-parametric tests and LEfSe at different taxonomic levels were used to reveal differentially abundant taxa and functional categories across different CMC groups. Relative abundance (RA) of one phylum (p_Actinobacteria), three genera (g_Bifidobacterium, g_Anaerostipes, and g_Bacteroides), and 28 species diversified significantly across groups. Specifically, taxa g_Anaerostipes (p < 0.01), g_Bacteroides (p < 0.05), s_Anaerostipes_hadrus (p < 0.01), and s_Bifidobacterium_pseudocatenulatum (p < 0.01) were positively correlated with CMC levels, but p_Actinobacteria (p < 0.01) and g_Bifidobacterium (p < 0.01) were negatively associated with CMC levels. KEGG module analysis revealed 48 gut microbiome functional modules significantly (p < 0.05) associated with CMC, including Vibrio cholerae pathogenicity signature, cholera toxins (p = 9.52e-04), and cephamycin C biosynthesis module (p = 0.0057), among others. In conclusion, CMC was associated with changes in gut microbiome patterns including beta diversity and richness of some gut microbiota. The alterations of certain bacteria including g_Anaerostipes and s_Bifidobacterium_pseudocatenulatum in the CMC group should be important for human health. This study further supports the biological value of habitual cow milk consumption.