RESEARCH | rootbiome

Vegetables as source of beneficial bacteria

RootBioMe has been analysing different kinds of vegetables and has discovered that in some vegetables there are diverse bacterial communities, which have a great potential for influencing microbial communities in the human intestine.

Initially, we are taking advantage of the special properties of the Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus).

The main prebiotic in the Jerusalem artichoke is inulin. Human digestive enzymes not able to break inulin; however inulin helps the bacteria living in our intestine to produce short chain fatty acids (SCFA), which in turn are very beneficial for the our health.

Microorganisms can cleave inulin into fructooligosaccharides (FOS). The FOS molecules consist of between two and ten fructose monomers. These compounds are not directly consumed by the human body but act as food for several beneficial bacteria in the gut, including Bifidobacteria. Therefore FOS is used in functional foods.

During recent years evidence has been accumulating about the health benefits of FOS. RootBioMe continues to develop technologies that enrich FOS in foods.

Focus on Lacto acid bacteria (LAB)

For example, we focus on the high diversity of beneficial bacteria and the Lactobacillales or LAB bacteria’s high concentration/multiplicity in our products.

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) is a wide group of microbes having in common the ability to produce lactic acid. Although the word “lactic” might be associated with milk, it is important to point out that most of the lactic acid bacteria in our food originate from fermented vegetables.

This is the direction also for RootBioMe technologies – rich LAB communities that do not originate from milk. In fact, all of our products are completely vegan.

Fermented products such as sauerkraut and pickles have been made for thousands of years; and lactic acid bacteria are the principal organisms involved in this type of fermentation process. Through extensive scientific research we now know that they are very healthy also.

The beneficial features of these LAB bacteria are becoming increasingly well-known.

LAB bacteria convert sugars mostly into lactic acid. They grow readily and lower the pH rapidly to a point where competing organisms are no longer able to grow.