Dietary Melanoidins from Biscuits and Bread Crust Alter the Structure and Short-Chain Fatty Acid Production of Human Gut Microbiota

Sumudu Rajakaruna; Sergio Pérez-Burillo; Denise Lynette Kramer; José Ángel Rufián-Henares; Oleg Paliy

doi:10.3390/microorganisms10071268

Dietary Melanoidins from Biscuits and Bread Crust Alter the Structure and Short-Chain Fatty Acid Production of Human Gut Microbiota

Microorganisms. 2022 Jun 22;10(7):1268. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms10071268.

Authors

Sumudu Rajakaruna¹, Sergio Pérez-Burillo^{1

2}, Denise Lynette Kramer¹, José Ángel Rufián-Henares², Oleg Paliy¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Boonshoft School of Medicine, Wright State University, Dayton, OH 45435, USA.
² Departamento de Nutrición y Bromatología, Instituto de Nutrición y Tecnología de los Alimentos, Centro de Investigación Biomédica (CIBM), Universidad de Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain.

Abstract

Melanoidins are the products of the Maillard reaction between carbonyl and amino groups of macromolecules and are readily formed in foods, especially during heat treatment. In this study we utilized the three-stage Human Gut Simulator system to assess the effect of providing melanoidins extracted from either biscuits or bread crust to the human gut microbiota. Addition of melanoidins to the growth medium led to statistically significant alterations in the microbial community composition, and it increased short-chain fatty acid and antioxidant production by the microbiota. The magnitude of these changes was much higher for cultures grown with biscuit melanoidins. Several lines of evidence indicate that such differences between these melanoidin sources might be due to the presence of lipid components in biscuit melanoidin structures. Because melanoidins are largely not degraded by human gastrointestinal enzymes, they provide an additional source of microbiota-accessible nutrients to our gut microbes.

Keywords: antioxidant capacity; gut microbiota; human microbiome; melanoidins; short-chain fatty acids.

Grants and funding

S.P.B.’s work was supported by the award “Perfeccionamiento de Doctores” granted by the University of Granada, Spain. J.A.R.H. was funded by the Plan Propio de Investigación y Transferencia of the University of Granada under the program “Intensificación de la Investigación, modalidad B”. Work in O.P.’s laboratory was supported in part by NSF award DBI-1335772 and by Uprising Foods, Inc.