## 3 Results  
### Microbial Community Activity  
Carohydrate metabolism in the colon results in the production of SCFAs, the most abundant of which are acetate, propionate, and butyrate. Changes in SCFA levels and lactate for Donor A are shown in Figure 1A-D and for Donor B in Figure 1E,F. Acetate levels significantly increased during the treatment period with all test products and in both the PC and DC compartments with the exception of the KC product in the PC for Donor B. For Donor A, the greatest increase in acetate in the PC occurred with supplementation of the OSM (14.1 mM increase, +94.2% compared with the control period) and the greatest increase in the DC was with supplementation with the LCM (17.4 mM increase, +56.9%) (Figure 1A). In Donor B, the greatest increase was observed with OSM supplementation in both the PC and DC (10.8 mM increase, +43.8% and 15.1 mM increase, +42.3%, respectively) (Figure 1E). Figure 1: _Cont._Propionate levels during the control period were higher for Donor A than Donor B. As with acetate, all test products significantly increased propionate levels over control levels in both the PC and DC, and for both donors, though the effects were stronger in Donor B, likely due to the lower baseline levels in this donor. Of note, the GoodBiome(tm) Food products induced significantly stronger propionic effects when compared to KC in both colon regions and in both donors, with the exception of BBM in the PC (Figure 1B,F). OSM supplementation had the strongest propionic effects in Donor A (PC, 23.1 mM increase, +135.1%; DC, 23.8 mM increase, +122.6%). In Donor B, LCM supplementation had the strongest effects (PC, 29.7 mM increase, +401.4%; DC, 27.4 mM increase +317.3%). Baseline levels of butyrate were higher in Donor B than Donor A. For Donor A, all test products significantly increased butyrate levels in both the PC and DC; the strongest effect was observed with OSM supplementation (PC, 12.0 mM increase, +142.8%; DC, 7.7 mM increase, +78.3%) (Figure 1C). For Donor B, KC was the only product that significantly enhanced butyrate levels versus the control period in the PC, though all test products, with the exception of the OSM, did so in the DC, where the biggest increase was observed with KC supplementation (6.6 mM increase, +65.3%) (Figure 1G). Overall, the significant increase in SCFAs in the DC demonstrates that the test products are fermented not only in the PC, but also in the DC. Lactate concentrations can fluctuate both as a result of increased production and decreased conversion, as lactate can be converted to butyrate and/or propionate. For both donors, lactate levels were very low throughout the control period and supplementation with test products had little effect (Figure 1D,H). Ammonium and bSCFAs are produced as a result of protein degradation; changes in the levels of ammonium and bSCFAs from the control to the treatment periods are shown in Figure 2A-D. In our study, all test products resulted in a significant increase in ammonium levels in both the PC and DC and for both donors (Figure 2A,C). Further, bSCFA levels were also significantly increased (Figure 2B,D). Changes in ammonium and bSCFA levels were generally similar among the test products, though, overall, supplementation with KC resulted in somewhat lower increases in ammonium and bSCFAs than the other test products. Figure 1: Changes in SCFAs and lactate levels with treatment for (**A**) Donor A, acetate; (**B**) Donor A, propionate; (**C**) Donor A, butyrate; (**D**) Donor A, lactate; (**E**) Donor B, acetate; (**F**) Donor B, propionate; (**G**) Donor B, butyrate; (**H**) Donor B, lactate. * Indicates statistically significant differences relative to the control period, while different letters indicate a statistical difference between different treatments, i.e., different letters for different columns indicates that the values in the columns are statistically significantly different while those marked with the same letter are not; \(p<0.05\).