# Benefits of Sea Cucumber Viscera on Gut Microbiota and Their Implications for Health

## TL;DR

Sea cucumber viscera, a waste product, contain health-promoting compounds that support gut bacteria and improve conditions like blood sugar and cholesterol.

## Contribution

This review highlights the potential of sea cucumber viscera as a sustainable source of bioactive compounds for functional foods and health supplements.

## Key findings

- Sea cucumber viscera contain bioactives like peptides and polysaccharides that promote beneficial gut bacteria.
- These compounds help regulate blood sugar, cholesterol, and uric acid while boosting immunity and reducing inflammation.
- The viscera's bioactives increase short-chain fatty acids and indole derivatives, which support gut health.

## Abstract

Sea cucumber processing generates substantial waste from internal organs (viscera), posing an environmental concern. This review highlights that these discarded viscera are a valuable source of health-promoting compounds. We explain how substances from the viscera can improve human health by supporting beneficial gut bacteria. Increasing these good bacteria helps the body better regulate blood sugar and cholesterol, boosts immunity, reduces inflammation, slows aging-related damage, and lowers high uric acid levels. Our work demonstrates that sea cucumber viscera should be repurposed, not discarded. Using them to develop ingredients for functional foods or supplements offers a sustainable way to turn waste into a resource for improving health.

Sea cucumber viscera, the primary by-product of processing, are generated in increasing quantities annually, leading to significant environmental pollution and resource wastage. Nevertheless, they are rich in nutrients and possess diverse bioactivities. This review provides a detailed elucidation of the bioactive components found in sea cucumber viscera, such as peptides, sulfated polysaccharides, saponins, and lipids. It further elaborates on how these visceral bioactives reshape the gut microbial ecosystem—notably by increasing the abundance of beneficial genera, such as Akkermansia, Lactobacillus, and Bifidobacterium, and promoting the production of beneficial metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids and indole derivatives. Through these mechanisms, the components demonstrate potential, either directly or indirectly, to improve glucose and lipid metabolic disorders, enhance immune function, alleviate inflammation-related diseases, exert anti-aging effects, and reduce uric acid levels. However, the molecular mechanisms through which individually extracted bioactive components from sea cucumber viscera exert their health benefits by modulating the gut microecology in animal models or clinical trials remain to be fully elucidated. This review aims to offer a scientific foundation for the high-value application of sea cucumber viscera.