Inflammatory bowel disease - A peek into the bacterial community shift and algae-based 'biotic' approach to combat the disease

Background

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) was regarded as a problem of the industrialised nations. However, with the popularity and convenience connected to ultra-processed food, fast food and restaurant dining, and due to the lack of appropriate strategies to avoid foodborne microbes, the disease started to emerge in other parts of the world also. Bacterial imbalance, intestinal permeability, and the associated dysbiosis-caused polarization of immune components to their pro-inflammatory phenotypes are implicated in the development of IBD. Now IBD is reported in children too, indicating the urgent need to take actions by finding diet components that can stall the proliferation of undesirable bacteria in our intestine.

Scope and approach

We present algae as a novel source for prebiotics to combat IBD. We first give an overview of IBD and the associated microbes. Next, we describe the unhealthy diet-induced microbes that are also connected to the disease and the foodborne microbes that are implicated in IBD. Then, we reveal the advantages of ‘biotic’ approaches such as using probiotic bacteria like bifidobacteria and lactobacilli and prebiotics from microalgae and macroalgae as well as a synbiotic strategy to combat IBD. In the end, we give suggestions for assessment of selected probiotics and prebiotics to counter pathogens or stimulate the growth of good bacteria in the intestine.

Key findings and conclusions

Dietary intervention, as a ‘biotic’ route, employing probiotics and bioactive compounds with prebiotic potential, and a combination of the two may provide a future path to control IBD because such strategies could thwart the proliferation of pathogens and development of intestinal dysbiosis.