Exploiting Lactic Acid Bacteria for Regulating Autophagy to Improve Health in Foods and Supplements: A Recent Update

ABSTRACT Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are frequently used as health supplements. They enhance digestion, regulate immunity, improve gut microbiota, and prevent and manage diseases. Autophagy has a crucial role in the prevention and treatment of tumors, cardiovascular diseases, and pathogenic infections. Research has indicated that autophagy is a significant pathway by which LAB improve health. In this review, we provide a comprehensive review on cellular and animal studies (a total of 45 studies) and summarize the LAB roles and possible mechanisms for regulating autophagy and enhancing health. Moreover, it identified challenges and opportunities of LAB in regulating autophagy to improve health. LAB provided numerous advantages and had great potential for regulating autophagy to improve health due to its ability to inhibit the proliferation of intracellular pathogens, remove harmful bacteria, alleviate pathogen‐induced inflammation, reduce oxidative stress, improve the intestinal barrier, downregulate apoptotic protein, promote cancer cell apoptosis, inhibit cancer cell proliferation, and suppress drug and toxin responses. Moreover, it identified challenges from the aspects of strain selection, dose–response studies, targeted strain delivery, mechanistic analyses, and clinical studies, then predicted the opportunities for future research. This will have an important enlightening and guiding effect on the basic and clinical research of LAB to improve human health and the development of LAB dietary supplements.