Canadian gut microbiome researchers at the University of Laval have recently discovered a novel gut balancing effect that’s driven by omega-3 SDA-rich Ahiflower oil’s unique fatty acid composition.
The researchers have recognised Ahiflower oil’s effects in the human gut as “aligning with the criteria accepted to define a food supplement as a prebiotic.”
They showed that Ahiflower oil shifts the gut microbiome “catalogue” favourably to a less inflammatory state, raising levels of beneficial Bacteroides microbiota in a simulated human gut model.
They discovered a novel gut microbiome-mediated mechanism for SDA (stearidonic acid) to promote a beneficial gut “biofactory” for commendamide, an endocannabinoid-like mediator linked to calming gut inflammatory responses.
This will create category and brand-differentiating commercial opportunities for early adopters and product formulators looking to grow beyond typical EPA/DHA omega-3 ingredients — addressing consumer gut-brain support needs in mood, sleep, immune and cognitive performance segments.
Industry market research experts have identified gut-brain wellness as being among the fastest-growing categories in 2024 (+6–8% year-on-year).
Using a plant-based omega-rich oil also confers greater oxidative stability and helps to raise omega-3 intake levels without the off-putting sensory challenges typically associated with conventional EPA/DHA sources.
As announced in July 2024, the Halifax-based water-soluble lipid ingredient innovator, Infusd Nutrition, has pioneered a fully clean-label process enabling the water solubility of fat-soluble and insoluble ingredients at high payloads with proven stability and functionality.
Infusd Nutrition’s patent-pending 100% natural plant-based oil solubility system also offers more than twice the bioavailability of conventional emulsions and more than four times that of straight omega-3 oils.
Infusd’s already low-cost solution dramatically improves the cost-per-serving equation in food or beverage formulations.
Ahiflower oil brings “sense and sustainability” to a wider range of food and beverage applications that have typically struggled to bear any omega-3 related claims … let alone the hormonal balancing and procollagen synthesis benefits attained with Ahiflower oil’s omega-6 GLA content.
Gut microbes as biofactories
The gut microbiota is known to produce endocannabinoid-like metabolites (such as commendamide) that play a big role in energy processing, inflammation and mood regulation; however, these are not usually derived from processing omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA).
CBD and THC, for example, are strong cannabinoids in and of themselves unrelated to omega-3 fatty acids.
This study provided the first direct evidence to demonstrate the capacity of human gut bacteria to produce this class of compound from omega-3 PUFA.
This happened specifically after exposure to Ahiflower oil and was subsequently associated with the SDA metabolite N-stearidonoyl-ethanolamine (SDEA).
This was done using a novel ex vivo fermentation system (M-SHIME) that mimics lumen and mucosal gut microbial metabolism dynamics, composition and products in a simulated human ileum and ascending colon in a time-dependent manner.
The noted effects occurred from faecal samples taken from four human donors that were then inoculated with 1200 mg/day of Ahiflower oil and fermented for 14 days after a 1-week control (CTRL) period.
The fermenting gut microbial composition and metabolite changes were grouped into week-1 (days 8–14) and week-2 (days 15–21) periods for analysis (and further into two clusters [C1 and C2]).
Gut-brain associations from Ahiflower oil
Ahiflower oil treatment generally upregulated beneficial Bacteroides, Parabacteroides and Phascolarctobacterium genera (with notable probiotic properties) and, specifically, Akkermansia municiphila in one cluster, while downregulating all but one Clostridia taxa, Actinomycetia genera and Bifidobacterium.
The Ahiflower oil upregulated several taxa noted as secondary probiotics, including Bifidobacterium. (Clostridia downregulation by fish oil has been noted in this same system and is a beneficial anti-inflammatory GI tract response.)
These changes account for and explain the significant short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) increase in propionate and decrease in acetate in both clusters, with the propionate:butyrate ratio increasing greatly in C2 and causing “an enhanced metabolic response.”
The significant elevation of the endocannabinoid mediator commendamide occurred in sync with Ahiflower oil’s stimulation of Bacteroides in the lumen of the ileum in both clusters.
The authors observed: “This dietary supplement not only exhibits prebiotic-like effects, but also fosters the remarkable and previously understudied capability of gut microbiota to biotransform dietary fatty acids into bioactive endocannabinoid-like mediators.”
Ahiflower oil stimulates the capacity of the gut microbiome to produce SDEA, an endocannabinoid-like molecule, which in turn activates nuclear receptor targets such as PPAR-alpha; this is known to regulate hepatic lipogenesis and, hence, reduce lipid accumulation in the liver.
Other N-arachidonoylethanolamines (NAEs) — including arachidonic, oleic, linoleic and palmitic acid — are elevated in the stools of people with Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and they grow Proteobacteria at the expense of Bacteroides.
However, this study is the first to describe the actual formation of potentially hepatoprotective SDEA by gut microbiota.
The authors concluded: “We anticipate that the human ex vivo data presented here will pave the way to future dietary intervention studies that explore the potential therapeutic effects of SDA-containing oils."
"This will identify specific populations that may experience the benefits of this fatty acid or Buglossoides arvensis oil, either directly or via the formation of SDEA and other endocannabinoid-like metabolites.”
Interestingly, this research supports an earlier 2017 finding from the University of Illinois’ Decision Neuroscience Lab that measured the brain mass and frontal parietal neocortex integrity of healthy seniors using MRI scans.
The researchers asked which circulating omega-3 levels were most responsible for the highest-performing executive function in these adults and highest brain integrity. They found that omega-3 ALA/SDA levels, not EPA/DHA levels, mediated the highest-quintile outcomes.
Ahiflower oil is the richest-available combined ALA+SDA source with a total fat content of more than 60%. The Laval research team’s findings may give more mechanistic insights into how Ahiflower SDA’s prebiotic and gut inflammation calming interactions are further translating to gut-brain axis wellness outcomes.
The road (or calmer GI tract) ahead
As David Giffin, chemical engineer and cofounder of Infusd Nutrition has noted: “Typical fish and algal oils have been harder to use in water-based beverages owing to inclusion limits and/or short shelf-life constraints before sensory challenges set in.”
Think kombuchas, kefirs and other gut balancing drinks, or healthy hydration/electrolyte balancing sports nutrition drinks.
Giffin noted: “In a market that has seen rapidly rising prices for omega-3 ingredients, a carrier system that enables greater bioavailability of the active ingredient in foods and beverages means that meeting daily omega-3 intake goals can be achieved at considerably lower costs.”
Beverage and food categories previously considered unreachable to bring omega-3 wellness benefits with supporting ALA nutrient content claims are now open.
Coupling these two disruptive innovations — Infusd’s game-changing water-soluble lipids delivery solutions and plant-based Ahiflower oil’s unique prebiotic and gut-brain support — the road for innovative approaches is wide open.
The skinny on the new gut microbiome findings
Ahiflower oil at 1.2 g/day in an inoculated human gut lumen and mucosal microbiota incubation model favourably modulates the gut microbiome by raising Bacteroides and lowering Clostridia, significantly raising SCFA propionate while lowering acetate and causing a novel discovered production of endocannabinoid-like mediator commendamide.1 The authors stated: “Our findings suggest a more targeted and selective influence of Buglossoides oil, aligning with the criteria accepted to define a food supplement as a prebiotic.”
Reference
- C. Roussel, et al., “Human Gut Microbiota and Their Production of Endocannabinoid-Like Mediators are Directly Affected by a Dietary Oil,” J. Gut Microbes 16(1), 2335879 (2024).