The Muscle Mag
“Diet throughout life is perhaps the key determinant of modulation and composition of the gut microbiome,” explained Dr Robert Steinert, HNC Principal Scientist at dsm-firmenich, during a presentation of the ingredient at the tradeshow earlier this month.
“The problem with diet is we are not following a gut microbiome healthy diet on a daily basis, we know we have a fibre gap of about 20g per day, we eat few fermented foods and too little live microorganisms.”
He explained while there are a number of biotics on the market, “dsm-fermenich realised there was an additional opportunity for vitamins for the colon” as research has extended to look beyond synbiotics and consider anti-microbial networks.
He noted those who attended Probiota in Milan earlier this year would have seen a dedicated session on microbiome ecosystems with keynote speaker Prof Jens Walter pointing to the importance of understand gut ecosystem, networks and ecology to overcome some of the limitation seen with probiotics, including high individuality and the effects of background diets.
“He spoke about carbon cross-feeding – the cross-feeding of short chain fatty acids – which feed off the microbiome to help them grow, detoxify and cope with the stresses of the lumen environment.”
He noted that while traditionally it has been understood that probiotic bacteria lead to the production of vitamins in the gut which can be used by the host, more recent research has revealed use of these by the host is quite low, leading to the question of whether they are primarily produced for the host at all.
“It turns out they actually produce these vitamins for themselves to support their metabolism,” said Steinert.
He noted research from 2016 looking at biosynthetic pathways for B vitamins found “reverse patterns”, meaning some microorganisms create certain B vitamins while others utilize B vitamins.
He noted riboflavin (vitamin B2) is a precursor for Flavin mononucleotide (FMN) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), which play an important role in a wide array of metabolic processes, plus it plays a role in the detoxification of inhibitory molecules to reduce reactive oxygen species (ROS), which fosters microbiome resilience.
dsm-firmenich conducted in-vitro experiments screening a range of different vitamins to test their impact on the gut and found that “consistently gut diversity was enriched through riboflavin in-vitro”.
In order to further study the relationship between riboflavin and gut health, dsm-firmenich studied a cohort of more than 1,000 people with microbiome fecal samples available. They looked at the relationship between gut microbiome vitamin production and factors related to diabetes and cardiometabolic health.
They found vitamin B biosynthesis pathways were relevant, with vitamin B2 positively associated with alpha diversity as well as a link between this vitamin’s intake and type 2 diabetes.
He noted a problem with vitamins is that they are very efficiently absorbed so it is hard to release them within the lower intestine. To overcome this, it is possible to heavily overdose or use targeted delivery systems but to rely on overdosing would require personalized doses to consider the individual’s own absorption threshold.
Therefore dsm-firmenich developed its unique, IP-protected Microbiome Targeted Technology (MTT), a dual-action colon-targeted delivery system featuring an innovative two-layer natural coating.
The first coating protects the riboflavin core from the harsh, acidic environment of the stomach and small intestine. The outer layer withstands digestive enzymes and low pH, while the inner layer remains intact until it reaches the colon. Once it arrives in the colon, the inner coating dissolves and releases the riboflavin.
He said this ensures 90% of the riboflavin reaches the lower intestine and colon with 10% absorbed by the small intestine, unlike conventional vitamins where 98% is absorbed in the upper small intestine.
The coating also allows for the ingredient to be combined with other ingredients, such as biotics or other vitamins, within a capsule.
