Functional foods and nutraceuticals with anti-aging effects: Focus on modifying the enteral microbiome

Dietary intervention is an effective strategy for anti-aging, and functional foods have become an important choice because of their efficiency and convenience. By regulating Bacteroides, Prevotella, Lactobacillus, Clostridium butyricum , and other key flora, they alleviate muscle aging, immune aging, and metabolic disorders, thereby delaying the aging of the body. Studies have shown that functional foods such as polysaccharides, oligosaccharides, probiotics, dietary fiber, and dietary polyphenols have significant anti-aging effects. However, probiotics are easily inactivated by the internal environment in the gut, which affects their efficacy. Therefore, how to achieve efficient colonization of probiotics is the key of current research. Probiotic colonization plays an important role in protecting host health by maintaining intestinal microecological balance, enhancing barrier function, regulating the immune system, and promoting nutrient absorption. Through biofilm protection, structural optimization, or a combination with other functional foods, the stability of probiotics can be enhanced so that they can play a long-term role in the gut of aging populations. This review summarizes the characteristics and regulatory mechanisms of gut microbiome in the aging population, focuses on functional foods with anti-aging effects, and puts forward suggestions for the feasibility of efficient colonization of probiotics so as to provide a theoretical basis for the development of anti-aging foods. • Dietary supplements can exert coordinated anti-aging effects. • The presence of biofilm protection enhances the stability of the gut flora. • Prebiotics promote the adhesion of probiotics in the gut. • Microbial structure optimization promotes bacterial colonization in the gut. • Adjustment of key microbiota is closely related to anti-aging mechanisms.