Subbiah, V., Ebrahimi, F., Agar, O.T. et al. (4 more authors) (2025) Bioactive phenolic compounds from Australian seaweeds and their impact on gut health. Scientific Reports, 15 (1). 20954. ISSN: 2045-2322
Abstract
Seaweed phenolics are increasingly recognized for their health-promoting potential, but their bioavailability and interaction with gut microbiota remain insufficiently understood. This study examined the effects of seaweed phenolics on gut microbiota, short-chain fatty acid production and characterized phenolics during colonic fermentation over 48 h. Results showed that Durvillaea potatorum exhibited the highest total phenolic content (3.14 mg GAE/g) after 8 h of fermentation, while Phyllospora comosa showed peak flavonoid content at 0 h (0.73 mg QE/g). Phlorotannin content was notably elevated in D. potatorum at 12 and 48 h. Antioxidant capacity peaked in Cystophora siliquosa at 48 h (FRAP: 0.14 mg TE/g; TAC: 0.62 mg TE/g), whereas radical scavenging activity was highest in Sargassum fallax and P. comosa at 18 and 24 h, respectively (DPPH: 1.15 mg TE/g; ABTS: 0.36 mg TE/g). In this study, seaweed supplementation modulated the microbiota, resulting in alteration in microbial community structure and diversity. Additionally, short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), including acetic acid, butyric acid, isovaleric acid and total fatty acids were significantly elevated in P. comosa at 12 h. These findings suggest that seaweed-derived phenolics may modulate microbial composition and enhancing SCFAs production.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommo ns.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. |
Keywords: | Colonic fermentation, Antioxidant activity, Short-chain fatty acids, Microbiota modulation, Marine functional foods |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Biological Sciences (Leeds) > School of Biology (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 05 Aug 2025 10:14 |
Last Modified: | 05 Aug 2025 10:14 |
Published Version: | https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-04689-8 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer Nature |
Identification Number: | 10.1038/s41598-025-04689-8 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:229941 |