GABI: Microbial Biomass Interventions for Healthy Aging

Microbial Biomass Interventions for Healthy Aging: Integrating microbiome, immunobiome and metabolome insights

A 4-year cSBO project developing evidence-based, high-dose biotic dietary strategies for healthier aging and next-generation food innovation.

Why GABI?

From midlife onward, early metabolic dysregulation and low-grade inflammation can gradually reduce metabolic resilience and increase the risk of metabolic syndrome. GABI investigates whether daily exposure to biotics through probiotics, postbiotics and potentially selected fermented foods can become a modifiable nutritional strategy to support metabolic, microbiome and immune health.

The opportunity

Current evidence on biotics is fragmented: studies often use single products, insufficient or poorly characterised doses, poor integration in diet, heterogeneous populations and endpoints with limited regulatory relevance. As a result, food, biotech and health companies lack the human, mechanistic and biomarker evidence needed to design and substantiate innovative biotic-rich products and services.

GABI focuses on adults aged 45-64 with emerging signs of metabolic syndrome and tests a combined high-biotic dietary intervention delivering at least 10¹⁰ microbial cells per day equivalent.

Core hypothesis

A sufficiently high and diverse exposure to microbial biomass can influence interconnected mechanisms involving metabolic homeostasis, epithelial barrier and immune function, gut microbiota composition and function, and long-range inter-organ signaling. GABI will determine which effects and mechanisms are reproducible in humans and which biomarkers can distinguish higher from lower responders.

Expected outputs

• A characterised, consumer-supported and industrially relevant, biotic-rich mixture of microorganisms suitable for use in a nutritional intervention and/or incorporation into a food matrix. 
• Human proof-of-concept on the effects of high-dose biotic exposure on metabolic and immune health.
• An integrated biomarker framework and responder profiles for targeted innovation.
• Mechanistic pathway maps linking microbial exposure, microbiome modulation, metabolites and host outcomes.
• An industry-validated valorisation roadmap, early prototype concepts and concrete follow-up routes.

Consortium

University of Antwerp leads the scientific programme, with expertise in microbiome and biotics, clinical and immunometabolic research, and market adoption. Ghent University contributes integrative metabolomics and nutritional epidemiology. KU Leuven contributes expertise in digestion, absorption, microbial metabolites and dietary intervention research. Flanders' FOOD leads industry translation, dissemination, valorisation and project coordination.

Industrial relevance and participation

GABI creates a pre-competitive evidence base that companies can use to reduce uncertainty and prepare targeted follow-up innovation.

Who can benefit?

• Food and ingredient companies: producers of probiotics, postbiotics, microbial biomass, fermented foods and functional products seeking dose, formulation, mechanism and biomarker evidence.
• Biotech and analytics companies: organisations active in microbiome profiling, biomarker and assay development, multi-omics, digital health and decision-support tools.
• Personalised nutrition and healthcare actors: providers translating validated biomarkers and dietary evidence into monitoring, advice, education, prevention and future clinical applications.

Why join the Industrial Board of Advisors (IBA)?

• Early access to project set-up (opportunity to co-design intervention and clinical study set-up), project progress and emerging scientific and mechanistic insights.
• A structured channel to shape industrial relevance, product formats, analytical priorities and valorisation routes.
• Opportunities to meet and network with leading experts and companies in the field, exchange experiences and explore shared challenges and opportunities.

Interested in GABI? You can still join the Industrial Board of Advisors (IBA) and gain early access to new knowledge, results and opportunities emerging from the project. The contribution is:

• SMEs: EUR 250 per year
• Large companies and other organisations: EUR 1,000 per year