Probiotics might be a game changer in the immune health category. Of the 87% of US consumers interested in immune support supplements, 78% are specifically interested in probiotics, Future Market Insights reported.
Probiotics have long associated with gut health, but interest in them as a key player in improving other health outcomes has greatly expanded.
Research began with the gut-brain axis — the bi-directional pathway that sends messages between the gut and the brain. Now, science has shown there is a multi-directional pathway between the gut and the immune system, among other organs.
Schulick explained: “When you think of an axis, you might imagine a line connecting two distant entities to each other. In fact, your immune system is virtually inseparable from your gut: they’ve co-evolved since your birth, and many scientists suggest that your gut may house 70% of your immunocytes and over 90% of your immunoglobulin-producing cells.”
Scientists believe there is a symbiotic relationship between the gut and the immune system. The gut microbiota support and regulate the immune system by the enzymes and metabolites they produce. Metabolites act like signals, which the immune system recognises.
A healthy gut sends signals through to the immune system to modulate immune responses and support healthy immune function, and helps to train immune cells, eg T-cells, to differentiate between foreign invaders and body tissue.
Your immune system is virtually inseparable from your gut
“And both depend on what you eat,” Schulick said. “After you swallow a bite of food, your gut microbiota work to metabolise it and produce countless metabolites and synthesise vitamins that allow for a type of communication between your gut and immune cells.”
The lining of the gut is resilient but, when weakened, can leave the body more vulnerable to foreign invaders that could attack the immune system.
Maintaining a healthy, balanced, and flourishing gut microbiota strengthens the gut lining and produces beneficial compounds, like short-chain fatty acids, that help maintain a healthy gut lining.
From a business standpoint, Pumarola agreed there is an expanded benefit profile when it comes to probiotics.
“The main source of scientifically backed novel proposals comes from the recent large investment in microbiome research. The composition of the microbiome has become a central driver of health and disease,” said Pumarola.
“This research has also shown the relevance of carbohydrates in maintaining a healthy relationship with our microbiome.”
Fibres, prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics are “on fire”, while glycans and human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) appear to be serious dietary candidates to support our immune systems, with a full scientific basis behind them, Pumarola said.
Glycans are carbohydrates, sugars, monosaccharides, oligosaccharides and polysaccharides, and are found in every living thing.
A team of researchers in the US reviewed several comprehensive studies to “… collectively help to define and refine our knowledge of the function and impact of glycans within the immune response”.
Ultimately, the scientists’ glycoscientific review documented varied approaches to boosting the immune system, such as glycans working as immune modulators to increase immune function.
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HMOs, produced in breast milk, may be among the earliest forms of immune protection babies can receive. A group of French researchers noted: “HMOs induce bacterial colonisation in the intestinal tract, which is beneficial for health. The gut bacteria can act directly and indirectly on the immune system by stimulating innate immunity and controlling inflammatory reactions and by inducing an adaptive immune response and a tolerogenic environment.”
Calder agreed, saying that a newer understanding of the role of gut microbiota in supporting immunity has elevated interest in nutritional supplementation that targets the microbiota, putting it at the centre of the immune health category.
Prebiotics like fructo-oligosaccharides and galacto-oligosaccharides have a key role in promoting growth of favourable gut bacteria. Yeast beta-glucans are also an interesting, relatively newer ingredient supported by a lot of research, he said.
Yeast beta-glucans seem to act through “immune training” or setting the immune system up to respond to an infection.
