Potential use of seaweed polysaccharides as prebiotics for management of metabolic syndrome: a review

Abstract

Seaweed polysaccharides (SPs) obtained from seaweeds are a class of functional prebiotics. SPs can regulate glucose and lipid anomalies, affect appetite, reduce inflammation and oxidative stress, and therefore have great potential for managing metabolic syndrome (MetS). SPs are poorly digested by the human gastrointestinal tract but are available to the gut microbiota to produce metabolites and exert a series of positive effects, which may be the mechanism by which SPs render their anti-MetS effects. This article reviews the potential of SPs as prebiotics in the management of MetS-related metabolic disturbances. The structure of SPs and studies related to the process of their degradation by gut bacteria and their therapeutic effects on MetS are highlighted. In summary, this review provides new perspectives on SPs as prebiotics to prevent and treat MetS.

Keywords:

• Gut microbiota
• metabolic syndrome
• prebiotics
• seaweed polysaccharides
• short-chain fatty acids

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National High Level Hospital Clinical Research Funding [grant number 2022-NHLHCRF-py-06]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 41206129, 81973627]; Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province [grant number ZR2022MD058; ZR2020MD094]; and Beijing Natural Science Foundation [grant number 7212195], and Weifang Medical University Teachers Domestic Scholar Program. The authors thank Nissi S. Wang, MSc, for developmental editing of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interests.