Beneficial effects of Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum BB536 on human health: Modulation of gut microbiome as the principal action

Probiotics have shown great promise in promoting human health. Despite the promising evidence, there is little information on the clinical efficacy of many of the available probiotics and their mechanisms of action are often unclear. Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum BB536 is a clinically effective, well-established, multifunctional probiotic that has a long history of human use in alleviating gastrointestinal, immunological and infectious diseases. This review summarizes the functional benefits of BB536 from the most relevant clinical and animal studies and offers a theoretical basis for understanding its mechanisms of action. Key clinical findings point out that BB536 could act as a microbiome modulator to orchestrate the physiological activities of gut communities. Specifically, BB536 modulates luminal metabolism, stabilizes gut microbiota, and ultimately drives a fine-tuned homeostatic balance within the host-microbiome interaction. Clinical evidence of effectiveness of BB536 and how such multifunctional activities take place would be valuable for an optimized probiotic selection.