Cereal β-glucan: a promising prebiotic polysaccharide and its impact on the gut health

Recently, polysaccharides dietary fibres have emerged as promised functional and nutraceutical food ingredients due to their several health boosting properties. Cereal beta-glucan is a water-soluble, prebiotic and bioactive polysaccharide dietary fibre that has a tendency to play a significant role in health regulation. beta-glucans from cereal sources have a number of unique functional properties, that is higher solubility, viscosity and tendency to completely be fermented by gut microbiota. These functional characteristics show promising positive effects on human health, such as cancer prevention, anti-inflammatory activity, skin protection, antioxidant, immune modulation and reduction of glycaemia and serum cholesterol. The present review primarily focuses on the prophylactic and therapeutic role of cereal beta-glucans on gut health in terms of its barrier permeability, modulation of gut microbiota, the intestinal immune system and intestinal inflammation, colon cancer protection and short-chain fatty acids production. Cereal beta-glucans principally perform different biological actions through specific cytokines and hormones regulation.

Automated summary

Cereal beta-glucan is a water-soluble, prebiotic and bioactive polysaccharide dietary fibre that has numerous health benefits, such as cancer prevention, anti-inflammatory activity, skin protection, antioxidant effects, immune modulation, and reduction of glycaemia and serum cholesterol. It plays a significant role in gut health by regulating barrier permeability, gut microbiota, intestinal immune system, intestinal inflammation, colon cancer protection, and production of short-chain fatty acids through specific cytokines and hormones regulation.