The Impact of Quorn Products on Human Gut Health: Exploring the Relationship Between Mycoprotein and the Microbiome Jonathon Woods and Jose Munoz
A s we transition to more sustainable food sources to tackle climate change, we must fully comprehend the impact this will have on our health. A lot of human health is influenced by what we eat and the nutrients we obtain from our food, especially when it comes to the relationship between our diet style and the health of our gut and the flora that populate. Research indicates that the health of the gut has many links to different aspects of the host’s overall health including cholesterol level, immune system and even neurological disorders such as autism and Alzheimer’s disease via the gut–brain axis. Promising meat alternatives currently available on the market are Quorn products produced from the continuous fermentation of filamentous fungi, which uses significantly less water and land per weight of food produced than almost all agricultural processes, maintaining a relatively small ecological footprint. If we were able to fully understand the effects of food like Quorn on our gut we could use that to draw parallels to potential impacts of other related food sources as well as use the knowledge to formulate ideas on how some sources could be utilised to improve host health.
Human gut microbiome The human gut is populated by a diverse array of different bacterial species, of which some are beneficial, forming a symbiotic relationship with their host, and others are parasitic and potentially pathogenic; the umbrella term for this collection of species is the human gut microbiome (HGM). The HGM works almost as its own organ carrying out different functions such as regulating the immune system, preventing the establishment of new pathogenic bacteria through competition and digesting fibre. We rely on the bacteria in the HGM chiefly to ferment the fibre we obtain from our food into usable products as we lack the necessary enzymes to degrade the complex glycans that form the cell wall of plant- and fungal-based foods. Different bacteria utilise different glycans; some may be able to degrade a plethora of complex glycans (typically primary fermenters) whereas others are only capable of breaking down simple glycans a few monosaccharides in length (secondary fermenters). To fully degrade the fibres made available through the diet it is essential bacteria cross- feed the waste products that are inaccessible to them to other species that can utilise them as a carbon source.
24 Microbiology Today May 2023 | microbiologysociety.org
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