Abstract
Growing interest in the development of innovative functional products as ideal carriers for synbiotics, e.g., nutrient bars, yogurt, chocolate, juice, ice cream, and cheese, to ensure the daily intake of probiotics and prebiotics, which are needed to maintain a healthy gut microbiota and overall well-being, is undeniable and inevitable. This review focuses on the modern approaches that are currently being developed to modulate the gut microbiota, with an emphasis on the health benefits mediated by co-encapsulated synbiotics and immobilized probiotics. The impact of processing, storage, and simulated gastrointestinal conditions on the viability and bioactivity of probiotics together with prebiotics such as omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, phytochemicals, and dietary fibers using various delivery systems are considered. Despite the proven biological properties of synbiotics, research in this area needs to be focused on the proper selection of probiotic strains, their prebiotic counterparts, and delivery systems to avoid suppression of their synergistic or complementary effect on human health. Future directions should lead to the development of functional food products containing stable synbiotics tailored for different age groups or specifically designed to fulfill the needs of adjuvant therapy.
Highlights
The host’s microbiota is a complex ecosystem of bacteria, eukaryotic microbes, viruses, and archaea coexisting within the body and on tissue surfaces
This review focuses on the modern approaches that are currently being developed to modulate the gut microbiota, with an emphasis on the health benefits mediated by co-encapsulated synbiotics and immobilized probiotics
This review focuses on modern approaches that are currently being developed to modulate the gut microbiota, with an emphasis on the health benefits mediated by coencapsulated synbiotics and immobilized probiotics (Figure 1)
Summary
The host’s microbiota is a complex ecosystem of bacteria, eukaryotic microbes, viruses, and archaea coexisting within the body and on tissue surfaces In these locations, the microbiota plays important roles in a variety of physiological activities, including digestion, metabolism, immune reactions, biosynthesis of numerous compounds, elimination of toxins, regulation of the gut-brain axis function, and even disease pathogenesis. Adjunctive probiotic supplementation, and the prescription of personalized probiotics based on previous microbial analysis (targeted gut microbiota modulation) are linked with the prevention and potential treatment of several severe disorders, such as inflammatory bowel diseases, colorectal cancer, obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases as well as food allergies, depression, and brain function [17,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54]. To ensure the long-term viability and efficacy of probiotics during processing, storage, and delivery to the site of action within the human body, advanced technologies such as microencapsulation or immobilization are recommended and have been extensively studied in the past decades [56,57,58,59]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
