Pragmatic Ex Vivo Evaluation of Edible Asian Natural Products for Gut Microbiome

BACKGROUND

Edible natural products (NPs) from regional plants and fungi are routinely consumed in Southeast Asia. Despite their prevalence in traditional medicine and daily diets, their impact on gut microbiome health and potential as accessible pre-, pro- and/or post-biotics remains poorly understood. This study aims to deploy a scalable, inexpensive ex vivo model of the human colonic gut environment to quantify the impact of natural products on gut microbiota composition and function, with the broader goal of increasing population access to functional ingredients and foods.

METHODS

60 unique Asian NPs, including medicinal herbs and fermented foods, were extracted using 70% ethanol and evaluated for their acute effects on the gut microbiome from a healthy Asian adult donor. Following a 24-hour incubation of each extract with an ex vivo donor microbiota mimicking the anaerobic fed colonic environment, samples were extracted and sequenced to quantify metagenomic changes in microbiota composition and functions.

RESULTS

NPs tested exhibited broad bifidogenic prebiotic effects, with fermented mung and red bean extracts demonstrating widespread prebiotic properties. Among plants, wild yam, saffron and apricot kernels and oyster mushrooms demonstrated the greatest ability to promote Bifidobacteria. NPs tested demonstrated varying effects on gut microbiota functional pathways, impacting gut microbial production of neurotransmitters, digestion of fibre and production of atherosclerotic trimethylamine oxide precursors.

CONCLUSION

Asian NPs demonstrate significant untapped potential as localised, accessible functional ingredients with prebiotic and postbiotic benefit. Further study is underway to evaluate synergistic NP combinations that can be implemented to improve population access to functional foods with gut health benefit.