White kidney bean extract as a nutraceutical: effects on gut microbiota, alpha-amylase inhibition, and user experiences

White kidney bean extract (WKBE) is a nutraceutical often advocated as an anti-obesity agent. The main proposed mechanism for these effects is alpha-amylase inhibition, thereby slowing carbohydrate digestion and absorption. Thus, it is possible that WKBE could impact the gut microbiota and modulate...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Gut microbiome (Cambridge, England) England), 2023, Vol.4, p.e8-21, Article e8
Main Authors: Houghton, David, Shannon, Oliver M, Chater, Peter I, Wilcox, Matthew D, Pearson, Jeffrey P, Stanforth, Kyle, Jordan, Cara, Avery, Leah, Blain, Alasdair P, Joel, Abraham, Jeffers, Ruth, Nolan, Ruth, Nelson, Andrew, Stewart, Christopher J, Malcomson, Fiona C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Beans
Carbohydrates
Climate Informatics 2023
Clinical trials
Constipation
Digestive system
Enzymes
Feces
Functional foods & nutraceuticals
Gastrointestinal tract
Glucose
Inflammation
Intestinal microflora
Laboratories
Metabolism
Microbiota
Obesity
Phaseolus vulgaris
Phylogenetics
Qualitative research
User experience
Weight control
α-Amylase
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:White kidney bean extract (WKBE) is a nutraceutical often advocated as an anti-obesity agent. The main proposed mechanism for these effects is alpha-amylase inhibition, thereby slowing carbohydrate digestion and absorption. Thus, it is possible that WKBE could impact the gut microbiota and modulate gut health. We investigated the effects of supplementing 20 healthy adults with WKBE for 1 week in a randomised, placebo-controlled crossover trial on the composition of the gut microbiota, gastrointestinal (GI) inflammation (faecal calprotectin), GI symptoms, and stool habits. We conducted experiments and used a gut model system to explore potential inhibition of alpha-amylase. We gained qualitative insight into participant experiences of using WKBE via focus groups. WKBE supplementation decreased the relative abundance of and increased that of , however, there were no significant differences in post-intervention gut microbiota measurements between the WKBE and control. There were no significant effects on GI inflammation or symptoms related to constipation, or stool consistency or frequency. Our and gut model system analyses showed no effects of WKBE on alpha-amylase activity. Our findings suggest that WKBE may modulate the gut microbiota in healthy adults, however, the underlying mechanism is unlikely due to active site inhibition of alpha-amylase.
ISSN:2632-2897
2632-2897
DOI:10.1017/gmb.2023.5