Probiotics, classified into monostrain, multistrain and multispecies formulations, have been suggested as effective interventions for alleviating constipation related symptoms by modulating gut motility and microbiota composition. However, the comparative efficacy of these probiotics has not been systematically evaluated. This study presents a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to assess the effects of monostrain and multispecies probiotics on constipation symptoms and gut microbiota. A total of 15 eligible RCTs were included in the analysis. Probiotic supplementation significantly improved spontaneous bowel movements (standardized mean difference (SMD) = 0.60, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.27, 0.94), P = 0.0005) and stool consistency (SMD = 0.25, 95% CI (0.03, 0.48), P = 0.03), but had no significant effect on gut transit time (SMD = −0.04, 95% CI (−0.34, 0.27), P = 0.82) or quality of life (QoL) scores (P = 0.42). Importantly, no superior efficacy of multispecies probiotics over monostrain formulations was observed, except for a modest improvement in QoL (P < 0.00001). Additionally, probiotics had a measurable impact on gut microbiota composition, although changes in microbial diversity were not consistently correlated with clinical outcomes. Collectively, these findings suggest that probiotics can be effective in alleviating specific constipation-related symptoms, but the choice between monostrain and multispecies formulations should be based on strain-specific characteristics rather than the number of strains or species included. Additionally, this study underscored the need for future research into optimizing strain combinations and understanding probiotic-host interactions to enhance therapeutic outcomes.

Epidemiological studies have indicated that branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) increased and gut microbiota disordered in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This study aimed to investigate the mechanism of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum strain 84-3 (Lp84-3) combined with Staphylococcus aureus bacteriophage on ameliorating T2DM. Here we perform a case-control study and identify that Staphylococcus_phage was inversely correlated with fasting blood glucose (FBG). It revealed that Lp84-3 could inhibit the growth of S. aureus, and Lp84-3 contains BCAAs degradation enzymes in its genome. Furthermore, Lp84-3 alone or combined with S. aureus bacteriophage interventions can improve blood glucose, insulin resistance, triglycerides, interleukin-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), BCAAs, and acetyllactate synthase (ALS) in db/db mice. Lp84-3 and S. aureus bacteriophage decreased S. aureus, Malacoplasma iowae, and Oscillibacter sp., and increased some beneficial such as L. plantarum and Muribaculaceae bacterium. Transcriptomic analyses revealed that Lp84-3 and S. aureus bacteriophage activated the PI3K/AKT/GLUT4 signaling pathway and upregulated key genes of Il22, Hgf, Col6a1, Gh, Itga10, Fgf23, and Prl involved in glucose metabolism in hypothalamus. Collectively, Lp84-3 and S. aureus bacteriophage alleviate T2DM by modulating gut microbiota and enhancing glucose metabolism in hypothalamus, supporting its potential use as a promising functional compound microecological agent for alleviating T2DM.

In order to evaluate the potential risks posed by N-nitrosamines, a group of emerging disinfection by-products in drinking water, to the food and beverage industry, a method based on ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) was developed for the simultaneous determination of nine N-nitrosamine disinfection by-products in drinking water. The samples were extracted by solid phase extraction. The chromatographic separation was accomplished on a RRHD-C₁₈ column with gradient elution using a mobile phase consisting of 10 mmol/L ammonium bicarbonate aqueous solution containing 0.2% formic acid and methanol. The detection was carried out using an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) source in a multi-reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. Under optimized conditions, the calibration curves for nine N-nitrosamines were linear in a certain concentration range, with correlation coefficient greater than 0.996, and the detection limit of the developed method was 0.10–0.33 ng/L. The spiked recoveries of the method were 62.1%–118.2%, with relative standard deviation (RSD) of 2.2%–10.0%. The analysis process took 6 min. Compared with the existing methods, this method is very sensitive, fast and highly applicable, and can meet the requirements for the detection of N-nitrosamine disinfection by-products in drinking water for food and beverage production.

The early screening and rapid detection of foodborne pathogens is critical to food safety and public health. However, the traditional detection method is cumbersome, time-consuming and laborious, and cannot meet the requirement of rapid detection. CRISPR/Cas, composed of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR-associated protein (Cas), is an immune system widely present in bacteria and archaea, which provides a novel pathway for low-cost, rapid, specific and sensitive detection of foodborne pathogens due to its efficient and specific sequence recognition and cleavage activity. This review article introduces the principle, mechanism and development of the CRISPR/Cas system, and summarizes the latest progresses in the rapid detection of foodborne pathogens based on the CRISPR/Cas system combined with different result reporting methods in recent years. Its advantages, limitations and future development prospects are also discussed.

Metabolic syndrome is a chronic systemic metabolic disorder. The number of patients with this disease is increasing year by year, and its prevalence is affected by age, gender, and dietary habits. Studies have pointed out that metabolic syndrome is closely related to insulin resistance, obesity, oxidative stress, and inflammation. In recent years, it has been found that intestinal flora is closely related to metabolic syndrome through omics methods such as macroeconomics and amplicon sequencing. Probiotics, a strategy to regulate intestinal flora, can improve oxidative stress, reduce the secretion of pro-inflammatory factors, and regulate glucose and lipid metabolism by regulating intestinal flora and its metabolites, thereby alleviating metabolic syndrome. This article systematically summarizes the pathological mechanism of metabolic syndrome and the relationship between intestinal flora and metabolic syndrome, and expounds the key molecular targets and specific signaling pathways by which probiotics mitigate metabolic syndrome. This review hopes to provide a theoretical reference for the development of probiotics as a new strategy for the treatment of metabolic syndrome and the targeted mining of healthy and functional microorganisms with the ability to improve metabolic syndrome.

Selenopeptides may be a valuable bioactive compound to promote gut microbiota-targeted therapeutic methods for intestinal disease and hepatopathy. However, limited information is available on the utilization of selenopeptides by gut microbiota, especially Selenium (Se) function. For this purpose, the present study aimed to investigate the protective effect of selenopeptide (RYNA(Se)MNDYT, Se-P2, purity of ≥ 95%) and its original peptide (RYNAMNDYT, P2, purity of ≥ 95%) in vivo by the microbiota-metabolite axis and further analyze the potential contribution of Se biofortification to Se-P2 bioactivity. The results showed that Se-P2 exhibits a higher protective effect on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation than P2, including pathology of the colon and liver, which suggested that the bioactivity of P2 was promoted by the organic combination of Se. Notably, gut microbiota composition tended to be a healthy structure by Se-P2 pretreatment in LPS-injured mice, which had a positive effect on LPS-induced gut microbiota dysbacteriosis. Additionally, only Se-P2 promoted an increase in the relative abundance of Lactobacillus, Alistipes, and Roseburia and a decrease in the relative abundance of Akkermansia, Erysipelatoclostridium, and Bacteroides in LPS-injured mice. The changes in gut microbiota were obviously correlated with the changes in metabolites and affected the metabolic pathways of valine, leucine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan biosynthesis and phenylalanine metabolism. This may be one of the key reasons for Se-P2 to exert bioactivity through the microbiota-metabolite axis. Furthermore, Se-biofortification in Se-enriched Cordyceps militaris affected the parental proteins of Se-P2 to modulate mitogen-activated protein kinase, GPI anchored protein, and carbohydrate metabolism, translation, folding, sorting and degradation, which may contribute to the bioactivity of Se-P2. Our study provides information on the effect of Se on selenopeptides in vivo, which further promotes the prospective applications of selenopeptides as dietary supplements.

The worldwide distribution of Staphylococcus aureus across food types is an important food safety concern. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of S. aureus in food products and its relationship with the occurrence and development of diabetes mellitus. A total of 55 articles were included. The pooled prevalence of S. aureus was 30.2%. The highest prevalence of S. aureus was observed in cereals, followed by meat and bean products, and the lowest in confectionery, egg products, and vegetables. The prevalence in dairy and seafood products was similar. Combinations of culture and molecular methods have been used for S. aureus detection. Furthermore, the prevalence of S. aureus in developed countries (Europe and North America) was higher than that in developing countries (Asia and Africa). In addition, the prevalence was higher in the provinces of Xinjiang and Shaanxi than that in Sichuan and Shandong in China, which may be due to the difference in climate and dietary habits. The results revealed that food type, bacterial detection methods, and location can influence the prevalence of S. aureus contamination. Resistance rates to preferred antibiotics against S. aureus were the highest for cephradine, polymyxin B, and penicillin at 82.9%, 82.0%, and 81.3%, respectively. In addition, 17 studies were system reviewed that the S. aureus infections are closely associated with the development of diabetes, and the treatment of probiotic, prebiotic, FMT, and bacteriophage can prevent and control S. aureus infections. This review emphasizes the high prevalence of S. aureus contamination in food, suggesting a potential diabetic infection risk and importance of observing principles of food safety and hygiene to reduce S. aureus.