A critical review on the impacts of β-glucans on gut microbiota and human health

The β-glucans are the glucose polymers present in the cells walls of yeast, fungi and cereals. β-Glucans are the major compositions of various nutritional diets such as oats, barley, seaweeds and mushrooms. Various biological activities of β-glucans have been reported such as anticancer, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating effects. The importance of β-glucans in food processing industries such as bread preparation, yogurt and pasta have been well elucidated. In recent findings on food science research gut microbiota plays a significant role and vastly studied for its intermediate role in regulating health. Several reports have suggested that β-glucans should have a significant impact on the gut microbiota changes and in turn on human health. The review was aimed to accumulate the evidence on types of β-glucans, their functional properties and the mechanism by how the β-glucans regulate the gut microbiota and human health. The various in vitro, in vivo and clinical studies, have been summarized, in particular, the changes happening upon the β-glucans supplementation on the gut microbiota. Overall, this review updates the recent studies on β-glucans and gut microbiota and also inputs the demanding questions to be addressed in β-glucans-microbiota research in the future.