**6. Interactions of phenolic compounds with the gut microbiota: metabolism and modulation**

The interaction between the gut microbiota and the diet components is fundamental to the promotion of gut health. Lignans, flavonoids, and other phenolic compounds present in legumes participate in the modulation of the host's mucosal barrier integrity, attenuate the inflammatory process associated with colitis, and improve epithelial barrier integrity, aside from modulating fecal and cecal microbiota composition and providing beneficial effects against metabolic diseases like obesity. The interaction of gut microbiota and phenolic compounds, mainly anthocyanins, can implicate hydrolysis, demethylation, reduction, decarboxylation, dehydroxylation, or isomerization of compounds into simpler components

to modulate absorption [15, 21, 49, 69]. Chlorogenic acid is poorly absorbed in the small intestine, but it has been shown that the bioavailability of this compound depends on the metabolism of the gut microflora. However, when this compound is metabolized in the colon, it modulates the colonic microbiota inducing a significant increase in the growth of *Bifidobacterium* spp. and *Clostridium coccoides*-*Eubacterium rectale*, revealing a potent antimicrobial activity by binding and permeabilizing the bacterial cell membrane [63]. On the other hand, it has been shown that phenolic compounds present in cooked chickpeas, like quercetin, daidzein, biochanin A, and formononetin, improved the integrity of the intestinal barrier by reducing its permeability and providing antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects that promote gut health and decrease pathologies, like colitis [21, 49].
