The Sourdough School

BALM – Proven as one of the healthiest approaches to bread in the world.

Based in the walled gardens of Dr. Vanessa Kimbell's beautiful Victorian home in rural Northamptonshire, UK, we tutor individuals and train bakers and healthcare professionals in Baking as Lifestyle Medicine (BALM). Personalising bread to your lifestyle, gut microbiome, and unique genetics for optimal health—tailoring fermentation, fibre, and diversity so that your daily bread becomes the foundation of your health.

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505 - ‘Postbiotic metabolites produced by Lactobacillus plantarum strains exert selective cytotoxicity effects on cancer cells’. BMC Complementary Medicines and Therapies. 19: 144

Reference Number: 505

Year: 2019

Authors: Li-Oon Chuah, Hooi Ling Foo, Teck Chwen Loh, Noorjahan Banu Mohammed Alitheen, Swee Keong Yeap, Nur Elina Abdul Mutalib, Raha Abdul Rahim and Khatijah Yusoff

Link: Link to original paper

Health: Cancer | Gut Microbiome - Creating Healthier Bread to Support Optimal Gut Health | Immune response

Nutrition: Fibre | Postbiotic | Probiotic

Lactic Acid Bacteria: Homofermentative | Prevalence

Yeast: Species

Summary

Background

Lactobacillus plantarum, a major species of Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB), are capable of producing postbiotic metabolites (PM) with prominent probiotic effects that have been documented extensively for rats, poultry and pigs. Despite the emerging evidence of anticancer properties of LAB, very limited information is available on cytotoxic and antiproliferative activity of PM produced by L. plantarum. Therefore, the cytotoxicity of PM produced by six strains of L. plantarum on various cancer and normal cells are yet to be evaluated.

Methods

Postbiotic metabolites (PM) produced by six strains of L. plantarum were determined for their antiproliferative and cytotoxic effects on normal human primary cells, breast, colorectal, cervical, liver and leukemia cancer cell lines via MTT assay, trypan blue exclusion method and BrdU assay. The toxicity of PM was determined for human and various animal red blood cells via haemolytic assay. The cytotoxicity mode was subsequently determined for selected UL4 PM on MCF-7 cells due to its pronounced cytotoxic effect by fluorescent microscopic observation using AO/PI dye reagents and flow cytometric analyses.

Results

UL4 PM exhibited the lowest IC50 value on MCF-7, RG14 PM on HT29 and RG11 and RI11 PM on HL60 cell lines, respectively from MTT assay. Moreover, all tested PM did not cause haemolysis of human, dog, rabbit and chicken red blood cells and demonstrated no cytotoxicity on normal breast MCF-10A cells and primary cultured cells including human peripheral blood mononuclear cells, mice splenocytes and thymocytes. Antiproliferation of MCF-7 and HT-29 cells was potently induced by UL4 and RG 14?PM respectively after 72?h of incubation at the concentration of 30% (v/v). Fluorescent microscopic observation and flow cytometric analyses showed that the pronounced cytotoxic effect of UL4 PM on MCF-7 cells was mediated through apoptosis.

Conclusion

In conclusion, PM produced by the six strains of L. plantarum exhibited selective cytotoxic via antiproliferative effect and induction of apoptosis against malignant cancer cells in a strain-specific and cancer cell type-specific manner whilst sparing the normal cells. This reveals the vast potentials of PM from L. plantarum as functional supplement and as an adjunctive treatment for cancer.

Significance of this study to the baker:

This study details how these novel ‘postbiotics’ from the lactic acid bacteria (LAB) may help prevent the growth of cancer cells. Postbiotics are the waste products or by-products of fermentation that occurs within our gut between dietary prebiotics (such as fibre) and the beneficial probiotic bacteria that reside within our gut. Here at the sourdough school, we believe in our 7 core principles, where if we increase consumption of dietary fibre, ensure dietary diversity and even add such strain specific probiotics to our bakes (such as LGG) then studies like this suggest we can truly nourish our gut and improve our health.

Take a look at our courses at The Sourdough School

All reasonable care is taken when advising about health aspects of bread, but the information that we share is not intended to take the place of treatment by a qualified medical practitioner. You must seek professional advice if you are in any doubt about any medical condition. Any application of the ideas and information contained on this website is at the reader's sole discretion and risk.

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