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Updated: May 12, 2026

Assessing the Viability of a Synthetic Bacterial Consortium on the In Vitro Gut Host-microbe Interface
Published on: July 4, 2018
Evaluating functionalities of food components by a model simulating human intestinal microbiota constructed at Kobe
Ro Osawa1, Itsuko Fukuda1, Yasuhito Shirai1
1Department of Agrobioscience, Graduate School of Agricultural Science & Research Center for Food Safety and Security, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan.
Abstract:
In this era of pandemics, reducing the risk of lifestyle-related diseases (LRD) by functional foods is of paramount importance. The conventional process of functional food development almost invariably involves in vitro, animal, and human intervention trials, but differences in intestinal environments between humans and experimental animals make it difficult to develop functional foods that are truly effective in humans. Thus, it is necessary to construct a model that simulates the human intestinal environment to evaluate the functionality of any food component before subjecting it to a human intervention trial. In this review, we provide an overview of a model simulating human intestinal microbiota constructed at Kobe University and its use as a tool to identify food components that contribute to the prevention and treatment of LRD.
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