Fibre matrices for enhanced gut health: a mini review

The contribution of dietary fibre to human gut health has been extensively studied, but there are many questions yet to be resolved in this regime. One of them that has recently caught attention is the physical form and structure of dietary fibre matrix towards gut microbiota modulation. This paper reviews the natural and fabricated fibre matrices for gut health with a focus on changes in gut microbiota and the resulting metabolite production. The fibre matrices reviewed in this study include naturally existing plant cell matrices and fabricated resistant starch (RS) matrices, starch-entrapped fibre microspheres, water-soluble cross-linked arabinoxylan matrices, complex two or more-component fibre matrices and dietary fibre-based colon-targeted delivery systems. Natural fibre matrices (i.e. plant cell wall) showed variations in shaping gut microbiome with the processing-induced integrity and permeability changes of cell wall. The fabrication on fibre matrices increased structural complexity and decreased fermentation rate compared to individual and un-fabricated fibres. It was hypothesised that the increases in structural complexity lines up with the increased specificity in boosting a narrow group of gut bacteria. More studies on physical structure of fibre matrices towards microbiota are necessary to foster fibre matrix design and fabrication for the purposes of promoting beneficial microbiota.