Pleurotus eryngii as a Source of Candidate Prebiotic Substrates: Formation Routes, Potential Activities and Applications in Food Systems

The prebiotic concept now extends past inulin and fructo-oligosaccharides to diverse dietary compounds for selective gut microbial utilization and health promotion. This review explores Pleurotus eryngii as a source of prebiotic substrates, with a focus on how preparation methods and molecular traits affect its digestive stability, fermentability and food applicability. The tested materials include various mushroom-derived fractions: polysaccharides (native and modified), β-glucan extracts, powders, hydrolysates, protein co-extracts, exopolysaccharides and composite matrices. Many fractions survive upper gastrointestinal digestion and produce short-chain fatty acids whose profiles vary with the substrate during fecal fermentation. Animal studies have demonstrated their positive impacts on intestinal barriers, immunity and metabolism, and these ingredients fit well into multiple food formulations. Rather than treating Pleurotus eryngii as a uniform polysaccharide product, evaluations should be performed for each individual preparation. Existing data supports Pleurotus eryngii as a promising source of structurally diverse candidate prebiotic substrates, with a consistent biological rationale linking digestive persistence, microbial fermentation, short-chain fatty acid production, microbiota modulation and gut-related host responses. Further research is required to verify the microbiota-related causal mechanisms, assess finished food products and implement human microbiota intervention trials.