Abstract
PurposeAccording to the vast body of evidence demonstrating that the intestinal microbiota is undoubtedly linked with overall health, including cancer risk, searching for functional foods and novel prebiotic influencing on beneficial bacteria is necessary. The present study aimed to investigate the potential of polysaccharides from 53 wild-growing mushrooms to stimulate the growth of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus rhamnosus and to determine the digestibility of polysaccharide fractions.MethodsMushroom polysaccharides were precipitated with ethanol from aqueous extracts. Determination of growth promoting activity of polysaccharides was performed in U-shaped 96-plates in an ELISA reader in relation to the reference strain of L. acidophilus and two clinical strains of L. rhamnosus. The digestibility of mushroom polysaccharides was investigated in vitro by exposing them to artificial human gastric juice.ResultsObtained results revealed that fungal polysaccharides stimulate the growth of Lactobacillus strains stronger than commercially available prebiotics like inulin or fructooligosaccharides. Moreover, selected polysaccharides were subjected to artificial human gastric juice and remain undigested in more than 90%.ConclusionObtained results indicate that mushroom polysaccharides are able to pass through the stomach unchanged, reaching the colon and stimulating the growth of beneficial bacteria. Majority of 53 polysaccharide fractions were analysed for the first time in our study. Overall, our findings suggest that polysaccharide fractions from edible mushrooms might be useful in producing functional foods and nutraceuticals.
Highlights
Mushrooms constitute a huge and underappreciated source of agents with extensive health benefits
Our findings indicate that mushrooms contain significant amounts of polysaccharides that were found to enhance the growth of lactobacilli
The majority of the polysaccharides studied stimulated the growth of the reference strain L. acidophilus and two strains of L. rhamnosus isolated from the human gastrointestinal tract
Summary
Mushrooms constitute a huge and underappreciated source of agents with extensive health benefits. There are almost 150,000 species all over the world, only approximately 5% of which have been investigated for medicinal or nutritional properties [1, 2]. Eastern Asian countries possess long traditions of using mushrooms for both edible and medicinal purposes. There is a vast body of evidence indicating that mushrooms demonstrate immunomodulating, antiviral, antidiabetic, antitumor, antioxidant, antibacterial and hypocholesterolemic effects [4,5,6,7]. These activities result from the presence of
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