Dietary bioactive compounds modulate intestinal stem cells to alleviate colorectal lesions

The incidence of colonic lesions is increasing globally, driven by multiple factors including dietary habits, lifestyle changes, and environmental exposures. Drawing on research from major scientific databases (PubMed, ScienceDirect, ACS, and Web of Science). Evidence suggests that interactions between dietary bioactive compounds and intestinal stem cells (ISCs) play a critical role in maintaining gut homeostasis and may help improve colorectal carcinoma. This review examines the impact of different stimulants on ISCs, focusing on their regulatory mechanisms and potential implications for colorectal lesions. Available findings demonstrate that dietary compounds (e.g., polysaccharides, oligosaccharides, polyphenols, fatty acids, and micronutrients) modulate ISC differentiation and proliferation via key pathways (e.g., Wnt/Notch, JNK, JAK/STAT) that are essential for intestinal epithelial maintenance and repair. In addition, these compounds shape the gut microbiota, which in turn produces microbial structural components (e.g., LPS) and a variety of metabolites (e.g., SCFAs, bile acids, tryptophan derivatives) that further maintain the balance between ISC survival, differentiation, and tissue repair. Collectively, these findings point to the potential of dietary compounds to modulate ISCs as a strategy to alleviate colorectal lesions. However, the lack of direct human interventional data necessitates well‑designed clinical studies to bridge this gap.