AG1, A Novel Synbiotic, Demonstrates the Capability to Enhance Fermentation Using the Simulator of the Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem (SHIME^®)

Synbiotics, a combination of prebiotics and probiotics, are growing in popularity, with consumers desiring improved gastrointestinal health. Prebiotics are non-digestible nutrients that can be metabolized by microbiota to exert a beneficial effect, while probiotics are live microorganisms that can also exert beneficial effects when consumed. Due to the rise in prebiotic and probiotic usage, there has been concern from some experts that not all synbiotics indicated for use as nutritional supplements are properly evaluated for their biological efficacy. AG1 is a novel foundational nutrition supplement that has been designed to exert a synbiotic effect. In its formulation, AG1 contains traditional prebiotics, phytonutrients from wholefood sources and botanical extracts, and two probiotics (<i>Lactobacillus acidophilus</i> UALa-01 and <i>Bifidobacterium bifidum</i> UABb-10). Alongside ingredients evidence that AG1 exerts synbiotic effects, efficacy testing was performed using the Simulator of Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem (SHIME^®) model. Physical and metabolic evidence of fermentation were used to evaluate the success of AG1 as a synbiotic. Data from the SHIME^® model showed a significant increase (<i>p</i> < 0.01) in the total amount of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), specifically with significant increases in total acetate (<i>p</i> < 0.001) and propionate (<i>p</i> < 0.0001) production, as well as gas production. These results were expected, as both SCFAs and gas are the major byproducts of bacterial carbohydrate fermentation. These data suggest that AG1 exerts preclinical evidence of a synbiotic effect by human microbiota.