Gut microbiome-micronutrient interaction: The key to controlling the bioavailability of minerals and vitamins?

Abstract

Micronutrients, namely, vitamins and minerals, are necessary for the proper functioning of the human body, and their deficiencies can have dramatic short- and long-term health consequences. Among the underlying causes, certainly a reduced dietary intake and/or poor absorption in the gastrointestinal tract play a key role in decreasing their bioavailability. Recent evidence from clinical and in vivo studies suggests an increasingly important contribution from the gut microbiome. Commensal microorganisms can in fact regulate the levels of micronutrients, both by intervening in the biosynthetic processes and by modulating their absorption. This short narrative review addresses the pivotal role of the gut microbiome in influencing the bioavailability of vitamins (such as A, B, C, D, E, and K) and minerals (calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium, and phosphorous), as well as the impact of these micronutrients on microbiome composition and functionality. Personalized microbiome-based intervention strategies could therefore constitute an innovative tool to counteract micronutrient deficiencies by modulating the gut microbiome toward an eubiotic configuration capable of satisfying the needs of our organism, while promoting general health.

Keywords: absorption; biosynthesis; deficiency; gut microbiome; micronutrients; minerals; vitamins.

FIGURE 1

Micronutrient interchange between the gut microbiome and the host. Micronutrients and the gut microbiome interact along a bidirectional axis. Dietary micronutrients can in fact affect the composition and functionality of the microbiome, and the latter can influence the bioavailability of micronutrients, for example, by synthesizing vitamins and controlling the absorption rate. In particular, the absorption seems to be favored by the generation of short‐chain fatty acids, end‐products of the microbial fermentation of polysaccharides. Microbiome‐based intervention strategies, such as prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics, could therefore be the key to improving deficiency conditions, thereby limiting potentially harmful supplementation practices