Importance of digestive mucus and mucins for designing new functional food ingredients

The mucus, mainly composed of the glycoproteins mucins, is a rheological substance that covers the intestinal epithelium and acts as a protective barrier against a variety of harmful molecules, microbial infection and varying lumen environment conditions. Alterations in the composition or structure of the mucus could lead to various diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease or colorectal cancer. Recent studies revealed that an exogenous intake of probiotic bacteria or other dietary components (such as bioactive peptides and probiotics) derived from food influence mucus layer properties as well as modulate gene expression and secretion of mucins. Therefore, the use of such components for designing new functional ingredients and then foods, could constitute a novel approach to preserve the properties of mucus. After presenting some aspects of the mucus and mucins in the gastrointestinal tract as well as mucus role in the gut health, this review will address role of dietary ingredients in improving mucus/mucin production and provides new suggestions for further investigations of how dietary ingredients/probiotics based functional foods can be developed to maintain or improve the gut health.