Acacia Gum

Gum Arabic from Acacia senegal

Evidence: Strong

Acacia gum (gum arabic) is the slow-burn prebiotic in the blend. It is a large, highly branched arabinogalactan fibre that your microbes ferment gradually along the whole length of the colon rather than all at once. That slow, even fermentation is the key to its famously gentle profile: it feeds beneficial Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli and lifts short-chain fatty acid production, notably propionate, while keeping gas and bloating to a minimum.

In a randomised human trial, gum arabic increased Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli in a dose-dependent way and performed at least as well as inulin, a benchmark prebiotic, with no meaningful tolerability drawbacks. Pairing a slow-fermenting fibre like acacia with the faster-fermenting PHGG is deliberate. Together they support a balanced microbiome across the full length of the colon, not just one section of it.

PubMed indexes over 2,800 peer-reviewed papers on gum arabic.

Selected study

Calame W, Weseler AR, Viebke C, Flynn C, Siemensma AD. Gum arabic establishes prebiotic functionality in healthy human volunteers in a dose-dependent manner. British Journal of Nutrition. 2008;100(6):1269-1275.

Study summary

Study type: Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled human trial (dose-finding), published in the British Journal of Nutrition.

Participants: Healthy adult volunteers received a range of gum arabic doses over four weeks, compared against a non-fibre control and an inulin comparator.

Observed benefits:

• Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli counts were significantly higher after gum arabic than after the control.
• The optimal effect appeared around 10 g/day, and at that dose Bifidobacteria, Lactobacilli and Bacteroides were higher with gum arabic than with inulin.

Mechanisms: Gum arabic resists digestion in the upper gut and is fermented slowly by colonic microbes, selectively expanding beneficial genera and producing short-chain fatty acids.

Safety: Well tolerated, with no significant drawback encountered at the doses studied.

Evidence strength: A controlled human trial with objective microbiological endpoints, establishing prebiotic functionality at least comparable to inulin.