Commentary on: Functional food science and gastrointestinal physiology and function

Abstract

Gastrointestinal physiology and function is a cornerstone target for functional foods. This was the basis of the 1998 British Journal of Nutrition review titled ‘Functional food science and gastrointestinal physiology and function’ (1) . An output of an International Life Sciences Institute – Europe working group, this article covered the basics of gastrointestinal function in health and disease through the lens of developing novel functional foods for health (Fig. 1). The article focused on probiotics and prebiotics as target functional ingredients. Importantly, this review was written before the explosion of data characterising the human microbiome. As microbiome science evolved, probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics and more recently postbiotics (together the ‘biotic’ substances) as well as fermented foods were seen as potential tools that could improve health by modifying colonising microbiota composition, function or the gut environment. Although evidence that health effects are causally linked to biotics-induced changes in the microbiome are often lacking the field has continued to promulgate under this hypothesis. The potential of these substances was recognised by food and pharma companies alike, with a resultant increase in research and product development. There have been conceptual advances in understanding shared mechanisms that may drive health effects of probiotics, which may ultimately lead to assignment of benefits to taxonomic groups broader than individual strains and biotic substances(2,3) . Continued mechanistic research is needed to provide a rational basis for selecting probiotics and other biotics(4) , which may enable more effective design of human studies on functional foods required for demonstrating a health benefit. This commentary looks back at where we were at the time this article was published, where we are today and what the future may hold.