LAUSR

Abstract Lignans are phytoestrogens found in plant foods and especially in flax seeds. Although lignans present a low bioavailability, their transformation into the enterolignans enterodiol (END) and enterolactone (ENL) is associated with beneficial effects on human health. Lignan metabolism was studied in 90 lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria finding a wide distribution of the ability to deglycosylate secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG) into secoisolariciresinol (SECO). Previous results indicate that enterolignans need a consortium of intestinal bacteria to be produced. In this paper we describe the obtaining of between 1.12 μM and 4.18 μM of END from lignan extracts by the action of a sole strain, Bifidobacterium adolescentis INIA P784. However, END production was not obtained from the pure lignans SECO, matairesinol and sesamin. To our knowledge, the first probiotic bacterium capable of producing END from lignan extracts is described in this work, showing potential applications in biotechnology, in functional foods and as probiotic.