Abstract: At present, the interaction between food components and gut microbiota as well as its effect on health is a research hotspot in the field of diet and health. The gut microbiota of humans plays an important role in the catabolism, transformation and absorption of bioactive components from soybean, and bioactive components of soybean can be biotransformed by the gut microbiota, causing structural changes to form new bioactive ingredients, which can benefit human health. Moreover, metabolites generated by the gut microbiota from bioactive components of soybean can regulate the structure of the gut microbiota, protect the intestinal mucosa barrier, and maintain the intestinal microecological balance. In this paper, how soybean bioactive components are biotransformed by the gut microbiota, how the abundance and community structure of gut microbiota under exogenous disturbances are regulated, and the health benefits of metabolites generated by the gut microbiota from soybean bioactive components are reviewed, in order to provide a basis for in-depth research on the mechanism underlying the health benefits of soybean bioactive ingredients.

Key words: soybean; gut microbiota; bioactive components; health