Fermented protein foods as modulators of the gut-muscle axis: mechanisms, evidence, and future directions.

Fermented protein foods may influence skeletal muscle health through the gut-muscle axis, but direct evidence on muscle outcomes remains limited despite promising preliminary findings.

• Why it matters: Understanding how dietary interventions like fermented protein foods affect muscle health is crucial for developing strategies to combat age-related decline, metabolic diseases, and muscle atrophy.
• What they did: The review synthesizes mechanistic, preclinical, and human studies involving fermented protein foods, highlighting the need for more comprehensive research with microbiome analysis and muscle phenotyping.
• The result: Advancing this research could lead to targeted nutritional strategies that improve muscle function and metabolic health, especially in aging populations and those with metabolic disorders.