Researchers evaluated the modulatory effects of ColonX, a mushroom β-glucan-based formulation from Romanian supplement brand GreenBiom Prebiotics, during a 60-day in vitro simulation of post-antibiotic gut microbiota modulation.
Results showed that ColonX increased beneficial Bifidobacterium bacteria over time and did not increase E. coli, suggesting that ColonX selectively supported beneficial bacteria without encouraging the growth of this potentially harmful bacterium.
“These findings support ColonX as a promising nutraceutical strategy to promote gut microbiota restoration following antibiotic exposure,” the researchers employed by Anoom Laboratories, the parent company of GreenBiom Prebiotics, wrote.
Mushroom prebiotics may support gut health after antibiotics
Antibiotics can disrupt the gut microbiome by reducing beneficial bacteria, increasing opportunistic microorganisms and changing microbial activity. These effects can persist after treatment, prompting researchers to explore ways to support microbiome recovery.
Prebiotics have been shown to help by providing food for beneficial gut bacteria as their fermentation produces short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which support a healthy gut environment.
Mushroom β-glucans contain complex carbohydrates that resist digestion and reach the colon where gut bacteria can ferment them. Previous studies have found that fungal based β-glucans may increase beneficial bacteria and SCFA production.
ColonX increases beneficial gut bacteria
The researchers used human gut bacteria collected after antibiotic treatment, and tested ColonX at at 250 mg per day and four other ingredients —xanthan gum, acacia gum, resistant dextrin and HPMC—all at 17.5 mg per day.
They recreated post-antibiotic gut conditions for 60 days, comparing untreated samples with samples treated with ColonX or the individual ingredients.
They measured changes in key gut bacteria, including Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, and measured organic acids produced during fermentation. Finally, they measured the glucan content and used statistical tests to compare the results.
Results showed that ColonX mainly affected the gut microbiota by increasing Bifidobacterium levels.
“The most evident change was not a generalized increase across all bacterial targets, but a selective enrichment of Bifidobacterium after prolonged ColonX exposure,” they wrote.
The increase became stronger after two months of treatment, while Lactobacillus changed only slightly. E.coli did not increase, suggesting that ColonX did not encourage the growth of this opportunistic bacterium.
The Bifidobacterium/Enterobacteriaceae ratio increased from 2.60 in the untreated control to 3.00 after one month and 4.61 after two months. The authors noted that the results suggest that longer ColonX exposure produced a stronger selective effect on the microbiota.
The individual ingredients also affected the microbiota, with resistant dextrin showing a strong effect on the overall bacterial balance, which the researchers said suggested that it contributed to the response seen with ColonX. However, the complete ColonX formulation produced the clearest increase in Bifidobacterium over time.
ColonX also increased acetic and lactic acids after one month, while butyric acid increased more strongly after two months, which the researchers suggested indicated that the gut bacteria became more active in breaking down carbohydrates and that their metabolism changed during the treatment.
Succinic acid also increased during treatment. Because succinate is an intermediate product of fermentation, this increase may indicate that the microbiota was still adapting rather than fully recovered.
“The progressive increase in succinate levels observed in the ColonX-treated groups could reflect active metabolic turnover and ongoing microbial restructuring,” the researchers wrote.
The individual excipients generally produced lower levels of organic acids than the untreated control. This suggested that the complete ColonX formulation, rather than one ingredient alone, may have driven the combined bacterial and metabolic response, the researchers noted.
“In this in vitro post-antibiotic dysbiosis model, ColonX showed selective microbiota-modulating potential, mainly through a time-dependent increase in Bifidobacterium-associated ratios without stimulation of opportunistic bacteria,” the researchers concluded. “These changes were accompanied by shifts in fermentation-derived organic acids, suggesting functional metabolic adaptation during prolonged administration.”
They added that future in vivo studies are needed before stronger claims regarding microbiota recovery can be made.
Source: Nutraceuticals doi: 10.3390/nutraceuticals6030054 “Mushroom β-Glucan as a Novel Prebiotic: Enhancing Recovery of the Post-Antibiotic Gut Microbiota over 60 Days.” Authors: Vamanu, E. et al.
