2019 Volume 19 Issue 4 Pages 133-138
Lipids ingested from a meal are metabolized in the host body, used as energy sources and biomembranes, and also play a role as a signaling substance. Lipids are also metabolized by intestinal bacteria that are in symbiotic relationship with the host, and it becomes clear that fatty acid metabolites affect the fatty acid composition of the host. Furthermore, fatty acid metabolites, such as abundantly occurring linoleic acid metabolites, by intestinal bacteria have been reported to have various physiological activities. Thus, it has been suggested that fatty acids, which have been thought of as nutrients, are metabolized by hosts and intestinal bacteria, thereby may exhibit various physiological activities. Development of pharmaceuticals and functional foods using these gut microbial fatty acid metabolites and development of probiotics that produce functional fatty acid metabolites in the intestinal tract are expected. We are currently investigating practical functional food application of 10-hydroxycis-12-octadecenoic acid (HYA), a first compound metabolized from linoleic acid by intestinal bacteria. In this paper, we introduce HYA’s functions and efforts toward practical application.
