Recent studies have revealed that various food components affect the immune response. It has been shown that such components could act on the intestinal immune system. On the other hand, intestinal microbiota and their metabolites affect intestinal immunity. Such findings suggest the possibility that food components could act on the intestinal immune system directly, indirectly through intestinal microbiota, or through collaborative immunomodulation by both.
Keywords: food; intestinal immunity; lactic acid bacteria; microbiota.