The current most popular targets for prebiotic use are lactobacilli and bifidobacteria. This is largely based on their success in the probiotic area.
However, as our knowledge of the gut flora diversity improves (through using the molecular procedures described earlier)
, it may become apparent that other microorganisms should be fortified through their use. One example may be the
Clostridium coccoides–Eubacterium rectale cluster that includes bacteria producing butyric acid, a metabolite seen as beneficial for gut functionality and potentially protective against bowel cancer (
38). The likelihood of other bacteria (including still unknown genera) also being targets for a prebiotic effect must be put in perspective with our increasing understanding (thanks to new molecular methodologies) of the bacterial diversity in the gut microflora. Indeed, the more we identify and characterize the bacterial genera, species, and even strains that compose the intestinal microflora, the more we will be in a position to describe, both qualitatively and quantitatively, changes in that composition and, consequently, to understand how the myriads of bacterial cells in the intestine interact and how they contribute to and modulate intestinal (especially colonic) physiology. Prebiotics will then become unique tools to create, both in experimental animals and in humans, colonic microflora with “controlled” compositions that will then be correlated with specific physiological conditions. But data are still too preliminary to speculate on these perspectives.
