Exploiting lactic acid bacteria for inflammatory bowel disease: A recent update

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) seriously affects patient's life. A systematic summary of the latest epidemic trend and pathogenesis of IBD is lacking. In addition, some health benefits of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were reported, whereas a comprehensive review of its mechanisms for alleviating IBD is limited. This review systematically revealed the epidemic trend and pathogenesis of IBD, and showed the potential regulatory mode of LAB on gut health, then critically exhibited the possible mechanisms of LAB in alleviating IBD based on animal and clinical studies. Moreover, it pointed out the challenges and opportunities of LAB for IBD. Higher incidences and death rates of IBD were found in developed countries. Environmental and genetic factors are important factors for the occurrence of IBD. LAB provided numerous advantages and had great potential for improving IBD as its ability to produce bioactive metabolites, regulate gut immunity, protect the intestinal mechanical barriers, inhibit oxidative damage, and restore unbalanced gut microbiota. Then, the manuscript advice to screen effective LAB by cell models and metabolites, to control the optimal intake of LAB through dose-effect studies, to encapsulate LAB through nanoencapsulation and microencapsulation to improve utilization, to promote the understanding of LAB by investigating the mechanism, and to improve the design of the clinical study to improve the lives of patients. This will contribute to understanding the epidemic trend, pathogenesis, and treatment of IBD, and promote the development of targeted therapeutic products such as LAB.