Formulations containing co-biotic compounds mediate microbiome function and composition without increased gas production in an ex vivo gastrointestinal model.

Co-biotic formulations significantly enhance gut microbiome metabolites and beneficial taxa without increasing gas production in an ex vivo model.

• Why it matters: Optimizing gut microbiome function is crucial for host health, but current interventions like probiotics and prebiotics have limitations; co-biotics offer a promising alternative.
• What they did: Three novel co-biotic formulations were tested using a validated ex vivo gastrointestinal model with fecal samples from six healthy adults, measuring pH, SCFAs, gas, metagenomics, and metabolomics.
• The result: All formulations increased beneficial metabolites and taxa, modulated metabolic pathways, and did so without raising gas, supporting their potential as targeted microbiome therapies.