THE BEST GUMS ARE THESE BECAUSE YOUR MICROBIOME ALREADY FOCUSED ON CELLULOSE (BETA 1,4 GLUCOSE)

GELLAN GUM AND XANTHUM GUM (GOOD!!!!!)

CARBOXYMETHYL CELLULOSE / CELLULOSE GUM (Would be GOOD!!!!! but research is suspicious)

Cooking_Al_Dante’s list of thickeners/gums/emulsifiers to avoid and ones that seem okay (cite studies with numbers, provide at least a few for each gum)

Effect of enzymatic depolymerization on physicochemical and rheological
properties of guar gum

Inulin (Fructose)

beta 2 1 glycosidic

Inulin received no-objection status as generally recognized as safe (GRAS) from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA),^[16] including long-chain inulin as GRAS.^[17] In the early 21st century, the use of inulin in processed foods was due in part to its adaptable characteristics for manufacturing.^[18] It is approved by the FDA as an ingredient to enhance the dietary fiber value of manufactured foods.^[3] Its flavor ranges from bland to subtly sweet (about 10% of the sweetness of sugar/sucrose). It can be used to replace sugar, fat, and flour. This is advantageous because inulin contains 25–35% of the food energy of carbohydrates (starch, sugar).^[19][20] In addition to being a versatile ingredient, inulin provides nutritional advantages by increasing calcium absorption^[21] and possibly magnesium absorption,^[22] while promoting the growth of intestinal bacteria.^[18] Chicory inulin is reported to increase absorption of calcium in young women with lower calcium absorption^[23] and in young men.^[1] In terms of nutrition, it is considered a form of soluble fiber and is sometimes categorized as a prebiotic.^[18] Conversely, it is also considered a FODMAP, a class of carbohydrates which are rapidly fermented in the colon producing gas.^[18] Although FODMAPs can cause certain digestive discomfort in some people, they produce potentially favorable alterations in the intestinal flora that contribute to maintaining health of the colon.^[24

Carboxymethyl Cellulose (CMC)

• Glucopyranose 14 b glycosydic bond.

Microcrystaline Cellulose (Avicel)

• D-glucose chain 14 b glycosydic bond.

Galactomannans: Guar Gum, Locust/Carob Bean Gum

• 14b glycosidic mannose, 16 a side chain galactaose

Sucrose

• Sucrose is composed of a molecule of glucose joined to a molecule of fructose by an α-1,β-2-glycosidic linkage.

Amylopectin

• a 1,6 every 30 sugars

Dextran

• glucose a 16 glycosidic, a 13 branches
• bacterial polysacchraride
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/dextran-sulfate

Resistant Maltodextrin (Soluble Corn Fiber)

• D-glucose subunits, in ologimer form n=3-20
• Produced from treating corn startch (maltodextrin) with heat and acid
• Gastrointestinal enzymes readily recognize and digest car
• bohydrates in which the dextrose units are linked alpha (1->4) (“linear linkages). Replacing these linkages with
• alternative linkages (alpha (1->3), alpha (1->6) (“non-linear
• linkages) or beta linkages, for example) greatly reduces the
• ability of gastrointestinal enzymes to digest the carbohydrate.
• This will allow the carbohydrates to pass on into the small
• intestines largely unchanged.

Gellan Gum

• Bacterial derived.
• Approved in Japan for food in 1988.
• D-glucose(2), D-glucuronic acid, and L-rhamnose backbone with no side chains.
• Alpha(1,4) and Beta(1,4) bonds.

Xanthum Gum

• 2019 Silva et al. 2019 – XG upregulates inflammatory cytokines.
• Approved as GRAS substance by FDA in XXXX.
• Bacterial derived.
• D-glucose backbone with (β-1,4-glycosidic bond-linked) with a trisaccharide side chain successively containing mannose, glucuronic acid, and mannose.”

Carageenan

Sunflower Lecithin

Konjac Mannan

Pectin

• Can be degraded by amylase? See, also incoming library request.
• 15-46% degraded before reaching colon (citation)

Modificed Citrus Pectin

• More digestible than Pectin.
• Found in Mountain Dew

Gum Arabic

arabinose and galactose polymers 1,3 beta, side chain 1,6 galacto, 1,3 tetrasacchride galactos

Enzyme assayed Mean value (µmoles substrate degraded per hr per 108 cells) for 50 test strains in each of the stated groups
Entero-bacteria Enterococci Lactobacilli Clostridia Bacteroides Bifido-bacteria
β-Galactosidase 42.4 ± 32 * 53.8 ± 6.0 90.6+10-7 13.7 ± 2.7 50.7 ± 4.9 39.1 ± 4.7
β-Glucosidase 5.8 ± 2.5 192.7 ± 19.5 26.0 ± 7.4 22.1 ± 5.0 35.1 ± 4.8 29.3 ± 6.0
β-Glucuronidase 24.7 ± 2.1 2.9 ± 0.6 1.6 ± 0.2 11.3 ± 2.3 6.0 ± 3.5 1.9 ± 0.8
α-Galactosidase 12.7 ± 2.1 20.8 ± 4.3 97.7 ± 12.1 53.1 ± 8.1 24.0 ± 4.8 28.2 ± 3.8
α-Glucosidase 5.9 ± 0.5 14.0 ± 1.1 26.6 ± 3.5 30.1 ± 6.4 9.8 ± 2.0 20.7 ± 3.0
*The standard error of the mean is given in each case.

Four enzymes can be grouped in this category: oligo-1,6-glucosidase (EC 3.2.1.10), amylo-1,6-glucosidase (EC 3.2.1.33), pullulanase (EC 3.2.1.41), and isoamylase (EC 3.2.1.68). All these enzymes hydrolyze only the α-1,6 linkage in starch, glycogen, and the oligosaccharides derived from them to produce sugars with an α-configuration. They cannot hydrolyze the α-1,4 linkage.

The fermentation of guar results in the formation of relatively large concentrations of butyrate (5, 31). Formation of butyrate is considered to have a beneficial effect in the intestine (6). Guar does not directly stimulate the growth of beneficial bacteria such as bifidobacteria and lactobacilli, with the exception of Bif. dentium. On the contrary, guar seems to stimulate mainly Cl. butyricum, and the stimulation of clostridia is not considered beneficial. The effects of guar on intestinal health are thus difficult to determine.

Randomized Controlled-Feeding Study of Dietary Emulsifier Carboxymethylcellulose Reveals Detrimental Impacts on the Gut Microbiota and Metabolomehttp://chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.gastrojournal.org/action/showPdf?pii=S0016-5085%2821%2903728-8

Wolever T , ter Wal P , Spadafora P et al.
Guar, but not psyllium, increases breath
methane and serum acetate concentrations
in human subjects . Am J Clin Nutr 1992 ; 55 :
719 – 22 .
6 . Levitt MD , Furne J , Olsson S . Th e relation
of passage of gas and abdominal bloating
to colonic gas production . Ann Intern Med
1996 ; 124 : 422 – 4 .
7 . Zumarraga L , Levitt M , Suarez F . Absence of
gaseous symptoms during ingestion of commercial fi bre preparations . Aliment Pharmacol
Th er 1997 ; 11 : 1067 – 72 .
8 . Wolever T , Robb P . Eff ect of guar, pectin, psyllium,
soy polysaccharide and cellulose on breath
hydrogen and methane in healthy subjects .
Am J Gastroenterol 1992 ; 87 : 305 – 10 .
9 . Marteau P , Flouri é B , Cherbut C et al.
Digestibility and bulking eff ect of ispaghula
husks in healthyPsyllium gum is the husk of psyllium seeds (plantago or ispaghula), which contains about 70% of soluble fibers. The structure of psyllium gum is highly branched, mainly consisting of a neutral arabinoxylan with (1 → 4) and (1 → 3) xylopyranose backbones; the side chains are composed of arabinose and xylose, which are connected to the main chain by O-3 and/or O-2 linkages [14] .The laxative methylcellulose is a synthetic modified form of cellulose. It is hydrophilic and used as a bulk-forming and stool-softening agent for treatment of constipation, for diarrhea associated with diverticulosis and irritable bowel syndrome, and in the management of patients with colostomies and ileostomies Dosh (2002).

Answer and Explanation: Brackets in organic chemistry indicate a repeating unit in a molecule, or to indicate branching.

Opinion Article by Dante Moroni

The gluten-free diet provides physical and mental symptom relief to millions of people worldwide. The diet has become easier to adopt due to advances in food science and technology that have improved the organoleptic properties of gluten-free replacement products. One such advance has been the increased availability and usage of gums. These gum based thickeners can come from bacterial, fungal, or plant sources and add viscosity to foods. I have a new hypothesis that certain classes of these gums can be more or less prone to causing gastrointestinal distress and constipation. That class would be the galactomannans. The galactomannans include several other plant seed derived thickeners, but guar gum and locust bean (carob) gum are the most widely used.

Small Intestine

Courtney M. Townsend JR., MD, in Sabiston Textbook of Surgery, 2022

Carbohydrates

An adult consuming a normal Western diet will ingest 300 to 350 g of carbohydrates a day, with about 50% consumed as starch, 30% as sucrose, 6% as lactose, and the remainder as maltose, trehalose, glucose, fructose, sorbitol, cellulose, and pectins.³ Dietary starch is a polysaccharide consisting of long chains of glucose molecules. Amylose makes up about 20% of starch in the diet and is broken down at the α-1,4 bonds by salivary (i.e., ptyalin) and pancreatic amylases that convert amylose to maltotriose and maltose. Amylopectin constitutes about 80% of dietary starch and has branch points every 25 molecules along the straight glucose chains; the α-1,6 glucose linkages in amylopectin identify the end products of amylase digestion—maltose, maltotriose, and the residual branch saccharides, the dextrins. In general, the starches are almost totally converted into maltose and other small glucose polymers before they reach the duodenum or upper jejunum. The remainder of carbohydrate digestion occurs as a result of brush border enzymes of the luminal surface.

The brush border of the small intestine contains the enzymes lactase, maltase, sucrase-isomaltase, and trehalase, which split the disaccharides as well as other small glucose polymers into their constituent monosaccharides (Table 50.1). Lactase hydrolyzes lactose into glucose and galactose. Maltase hydrolyzes maltose to produce glucose monomers. Sucrase-isomaltase is a complex with two subunits; sucrase hydrolyzes sucrose to yield glucose and fructose, and isomaltase hydrolyzes the α-1,6 bonds in α-limit dextrins to yield glucose. Glucose represents more than 80% of the final product of carbohydrate digestion, with galactose and fructose usually representing no more than 10% of the products of carbohydrate digestion.

Carbohydrates are absorbed as monosaccharides. Transport of the released hexoses (glucose, galactose, and fructose) is by specific mechanisms involved in active transport. The major routes of absorption are by three membrane carrier systems (Fig. 50.5): sodium-glucose transporter 1 (SGLT-1), glucose transporter 5 (GLUT-5), and glucose transporter 2 (GLUT-2).³ Glucose and galactose are absorbed by a carrier-mediated active transport mechanism, which involves the cotransport of sodium (SGLT-1 transporter). As sodium diffuses into the inside of the cell, it pullsthe glucose or galactose along with it, thus providing the energy for transport of the monosaccharide. The exit of glucose from the cytosol into the intracellular space is achieved predominantly by a sodium-independent carrier (GLUT-2 transporter) located at the basolateral membrane of enterocytes. Fructose, the other significant monosaccharide, is also absorbed from the intestinal lumen through facilitated diffusion. This carrier, GLUT-5, is located in the apical membrane of the enterocytes. In contrast to SGLT-1, this transport process does not depend on sodium or energy. Fructose exits the basolateral membrane by another facilitated diffusion process involving the GLUT-2 transporter.

In this study, when quails were fed a diet without lactose, no lesions were observed. Interestingly, like preterm neonates, birds show low endogenous lactase activity, and their caeca have a physiological stasis favouring overgrowth with lactose-fermenting bacteria [45].

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1198743X15009143

Cytotoxic Activity
The mean cytotoxic activity of the 14 C. butyricum strains from
patients with NEC was significantly higher than that of a nontoxigenic C. difficile strain (P = .008; Figure 5).

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26084844/

Processing by Microbiome[edit]

In a 1993 study, a group of 18 volunteers were directly fed 15 grams of xanthan gum per day for 10 days. At this intake level, xanthan gum showed strong laxative effects, increasing stool output and frequency but had variable effects on gastrointestinal transit time. Before the feeding trials, only 12/18 people had stool samples that degraded xanthan gum but after the feeding trial 16/18 volunteers produced stool samples that degraded xanthan gum; the authors concluded that this demonstrated adaptation of the gastrointestinal microbes (collectively known as the gut microbiome) to the consumption of xanthan gum.^[14] In 2022, scientists found that a microbe from the family Ruminococcaceae was present in human stool samples and was capable of degrading xanthan gum. In contrast to soil microbes that remove the branching mannose prior to breakdown of the polymer, the Ruminococcaceae has an enzyme that can hydrolyze xanthan gum directly. The authors also found two additional microbes from the genus Bacteroides that were able to grow on xanthan gum oligosaccharides produced by enzymes from the Ruminococcaceae. When the authors searched for these xanthan gum consuming microbes in publicly available data, they found that microbiomes from people in industrialized countries commonly harbored these microbes but they were undetectable in several populations of pre-industrialized or hunter-gatherer societies.^[15]

The ingestion of some oligosaccharides may lead to the proliferation of certain types of bacteria that are generally considered to be beneficial (e.g., Bifidobacteria, Lactobacilli, nonpathogenic E. coli and decreasing Bacteroidaceae) to the detriment of harmful bacteria. The (re)equilibration of the colonic biotope, first defined as the “prebiotic effect” by Gibson and Roberfroid (1995), has been demonstrated for dietary fructans in many studies in animals and in humans; promising results have also been obtained with other oligosaccharides (Delzenne and Williams, 2002). Recent data obtained with FOS demonstrate that the dose and the duration of oligosaccharide intake, the location of fermentation (proximal or distal colon), as well as the initial composition of fecal flora, are important factors influencing the extent of the prebiotic effect, that is, the increase in Bifidobacteria (Rao, 2001; Tuohy et al., 2001a,b).

One study showed that Hydrolyzed Guar Gum may improve symptoms in those with chronic constipation. However this study had several issues. 20% did not complete the study, potentially due to guar gum induced gastrointestinal distress. One could hypothesize that there may be a subset of people with an intolerance to guar gum. Either way, the patient pool was 49 patients receiving treatment.

Galactomannans require multiple enzyme working in syncronicity to enable their degradation, and allow them to be broken down for proper bowel movements. This is opposed to more well studied soluble fiber like B-glucan from oats. B-glucan only needs one enzyme A-galactosidase to break it apart. This is a common enzyme that the gut microbiome produces in vast quantities compared to B-mannanases etc.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26026279/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22314515/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactomannan

The Physics of Fiber in the Gastrointestinal Tract

Johnson W. McRorieJr., in Dietary Interventions in Gastrointestinal Diseases, 2019

3.5.1 Guar Gum and Treatment/Prevention of Diarrhea

“Raw guar gum rapidly forms a thick gel when hydrated, rendering it less than palatable.²⁷ To improve the consumer experience, most marketed guar gum products are “partially hydrolyzed guar gum” (PHGG), but hydrolysis degrades viscosity/gel formation, so the degree to which guar gum is hydrolyzed determines the degree to which viscosity and efficacy are attenuated/abolished.⁸² PHGG is readily fermented, which degrades water-holding capacity in the large bowel.⁵³ Two clinical studies assessed the effects of PHGG added to enteral nutrition. The first study assessed the effects of PHGG (2% of solution for 4 days) versus no added fiber in 20 ICU patients with diarrhea while on enteral nutrition.⁸³ No between-group statistical comparisons were made, and the data were variable/inconclusive.⁸³ A second study assessed PHGG (22 g/L) in 25 critically ill patients with severe sepsis/septic shock, and results showed that the percentage of days with diarrhea was significantly lower in patients receiving PHGG (9%) than in the no-fiber group (32%; P = .001).⁸⁴ While the doses of PHGG in the two studies were comparable, information on the viscosity/gel-forming capacity of each PHGG product was not provided. The limited data suggest that PHGG may be beneficial when added to an enteral nutrition formulation, but additional studies are needed that include information on the degree of hydrolyzation and gel formation/viscosity for PHGG.”

debunk this pro guar gum article

https://satia.com/blog/partially-hydrolyzed-guar-gum

Guar gum was found to be a suitable one and,
as a result, new plantations of guar bean began to spring up and in 1942
General Mills Inc. introduced – experimentally – the first guar gum to
American industry (2).

This polysaccharide is representative ofa group of galactomannan
gums, obtainable from many of the Leguminosae plants’ seeds, where they
serve as food reserve. Examples: alfalfa, clover, fenugreek and, the best
known, locust bean {carob.) Although closely related chemically, the gums
differ somewhat in their structure. For instance, the chief difference between
guar, and locust bean gums is that the former is richer in D-galactose
groups (1: 2) than the latter (1: 4).

Also, as 1-•6glycosidic
links are fairly easily hydrolysed by acids, guar gum being richer in galacrose has higher acid stability than relatively poorer (1: 4) – i.e. more easily

“stripped” locust bean gum, which fairly rapidly loses its viscosity in
acidic media. There exists a galactomannan which is even richer in galactose
than guar gum, and has correspondingly different properties. It is obtained
from seeds of Fenugreek plant (Trigonella Foenum Graecum) (10).

Further processing of crude guar flour consists of preparing a mucilage,
which after autoclaving to destroy possible enzymes is freed from the
insoluble part by centrifugation (supercentrifuge, 40 000 rev min-1). From
such clarified mucilage, the galactomannan is then precipitated in various
fractions by the gradual addition of ethyl alcohol

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.560.2090&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Xanthan gum is produced by the fermentation of glucose and sucrose.^{[citation needed]} The medium is well-aerated and stirred, and the xanthan polymer is produced extracellularly into the medium. After one to four days, the polymer is precipitated from the medium by the addition of isopropyl alcohol, and the precipitate is dried and milled to give a powder that is readily soluble in water or brine.^[13]

It is composed of pentasaccharide repeat units, comprising glucose, mannose, and glucuronic acid in the molar ratio 2:2:1.^[13][16]

Lactose is a disaccharide derived from the condensation of galactose and glucose, which form a β-1→4 glycosidic linkage. Its systematic name is β-D-galactopyranosyl-(1→4)-D-glucose. The glucose can be in either the α-pyranose form or the β-pyranose form, whereas the galactose can only have the β-pyranose form: hence α-lactose and β-lactose refer to the anomeric form of the glucopyranose ring alone.

β-Galactosidase (EC 3.2.1.23, lactase, beta-gal or β-gal; systematic name β-D-galactoside galactohydrolase), is a glycoside hydrolase enzyme that catalyzes the following process:Hydrolysis of terminal non-reducing β-D-galactose residues in β-D-galactosides

β-Galactosides include carbohydrates containing galactose where the glycosidic bond lies above the galactose molecule. Substrates of different β-galactosidases include ganglioside GM1, lactosylceramides, lactose, and various glycoproteins.^[1]

β-Galactosides include carbohydrates containing galactose where the glycosidic bond lies above the galactose molecule.

The hydrolysis of oligosaccharides and lactose is of great importance to the food industry. Normally, oligosaccharides like raffinose, stachyose, and verbascose which are rich in different plants like soy bean are considered indigestible by the human gut. Moreover, many humans suffer from lactose intolerance due to the absence of effective enzyme that can digest lactose. alpha-Galactosidase can digest oligosaccharides like raffinose, while beta-galactosidases can hydrolyze lactose. Therefore, selection of microorganisms safe for human use and capable of producing high levels of enzymes becomes an attractive task.