Maintaining gut health has become a hot topic in the contemporary era, where sedentary lifestyles, stress, late nights, and heavy diets have become the norm. The market is flooded with prebiotics, probiotics, and dietary fiber products to promote gut health. According to Innova Market Insights, new prebiotic products’ global annual compound growth rate has exceeded 10% from Q4 2017 to Q3 2022.
ZymeBase Inc., an innovative biotechnology company focused on plant-based and functional ingredients, has recently launched a self-developed soluble prebiotic dietary fiber, Fibalance® PHGG, with a PCT/CN2023/095287 patent application number. The average molecular weight reaches 20,000 Da, which is significantly higher than that of common prebiotics. Fibalance® can help optimize the gut microbiota and is more suitable for individuals with sensitive digestive systems.
Fibalance® is a partially hydrolyzed guar gum (PHGG) developed by ZymeBase using green biotechnology. It is a macromolecular long-chain prebiotic derived from guar gum, with a high soluble dietary fiber content of up to 85%. This makes Fibalance® highly effective in optimizing gut microbiota and particularly beneficial for individuals with sensitive digestive systems.
Fibalance® PHGG’s Competitive Edge
With the increasing variety of probiotic and prebiotic products, consumers and brands in the food and health industries have become well-acquainted with their benefits. Consuming probiotics helps increase the “good bacteria” in the body, while prebiotics provide “good food” for these beneficial bacteria.
According to the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP), applications involving strategic combinations of prebiotics and probiotics can significantly enhance the growth of beneficial bacteria, achieving a synergistic effect where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts (1+1>2).
1. Gut Microbiota Improvement
A.) Promotes the Growth of Beneficial Bacteria
Fibalance® significantly increases the relative abundance of beneficial gut strains.
B.) Suppresses Harmful Bacteria
Fibalance® significantly suppresses the relative abundance of conditionally pathogenic strains
C.) Decreases obesity-related strains
Fibalance® significantly decreases the relative abundance of obesity-related strains
2. Alleviates symptoms of colitis
Another advantage of Fibalance® is its ability to alleviate symptoms of colitis effectively. Inflammatory bowel disease, though unfamiliar to many, has seen a continuous increase in cases over the past 20 years. According to statistics, there are over 100 million patients worldwide suffering from this type of disease. In China, it is estimated that by 2025, there will be 1.5 million patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Unbeknownst to many, inflammatory bowel disease has gradually become a common illness that requires attention. The intestines’ health and safety have also become essential to today’s “greater health” discussions
Experimental results of Fibalance® in inhibiting colitis
In the DSS-induced colitis group, subjects supplemented with Fibalance® showed significant improvements compared to those not supplemented with Fibalance®, both in maintaining body weight and alleviating symptoms related to colitis.
The colon histopathology comparison shows that subjects supplemented with Fibalance® show significant crypts (crypts are essential components of colonic glands responsible for mucus secretion, aiding digestion, increasing intestinal surface area, and enhancing nutrient absorption).
Moreover, Fibalance® effectively reduces inflammatory cell infiltration and submucosal edema in subjects (excessive or sustained infiltration of inflammatory cells can lead to tissue damage, affecting normal tissue function; submucosal edema refers to excessive fluid accumulation in the submucosal layer of the intestine, which can lead to intestinal obstruction or perforation).
Combined with these experimental results, it is evident that Fibalance® intake effectively alleviates intestinal inflammation symptoms in subjects.
*Conclusions drawn from experimental data are objective and do not represent final claims about product efficacy
3. Applications
With excellent physicochemical properties, including narrow and uniform molecular weight distribution, colorless and odorless, non-hygroscopic and no agglomeration, good solubility, and low viscosity, Fibalance® can be widely incorporated into various food and beverage categories. Given the excellent properties of Fibalance®, ZymeBase introduces two product applications:
- Prebiotic Fiber & Probiotic Blend
2.) Prebiotic Fiber Jelly (Prune flavor)
