Two Studies Show Plant Fiber Shifts Gut Phenols, as Antibiotics Spare Some Indoles
Updated
Updated · BIOENGINEER.ORG · Jul 28
Two Studies Show Plant Fiber Shifts Gut Phenols, as Antibiotics Spare Some Indoles
1 articles · Updated · BIOENGINEER.ORG · Jul 28
Summary
Stable-isotope tracing in mice showed plant fiber and indigestible plant proteins redirect gut phenol metabolism toward beneficial phenylpropionate and hippuric acid and away from harmful p-cresol sulfate and phenol sulfate.
The PNAS study found many harmful phenols arise from bacterial consumption of host proteins in the gut mucus layer, while dietary “proteins imitating fiber” feed microbes substrates that favor the healthier phenol pathway.
A June Nature Metabolism study across mice, rats and human cells found many circulating indole and phenol metabolites are produced by mammalian metabolism, not only by microbes.
Antibiotic disruption left mammalian-generated metabolite levels stable while microbe-specific metabolites fell, a pattern also seen in patient samples, sharpening targets for diet-based and microbiome-focused therapies.