Dynamic changes of gut microbiota composition during the intervention of apple polyphenols extract to alleviate high-carbohydrate-diet induced body weight gain

Abstract

To explore the contribution of gut microbiota to the ameliorative effects of apple polyphenols extract (APE) on body weight (BW) gain induced by high-carbohydrate-diet, C57BL/6 male mice were fed with standard diet (CON), conventional high carbohydrates diet (HCD) and high simple carbohydrates diet (HSCD) with or without APE intervention for 12 consecutive weeks. The composition and differences of microbiota at 6th and 12th weeks were analyzed using LEfSe and STAMP. Significantly increased BW accompanied by obviously increased Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio and Dubosiella abundance, decreased abundances of Verrucomicrobia, Proteobacteria, Akkermansia and Parabacteroides were observed in HCD and HSCD groups compared to the CON group 12 weeks later. Additionally, the BW gain in HSCD was different from that in HCD, which was lower within the first 6 weeks than HCD, then was reversed during the next 6 weeks and led to relatively higher final BW. However, APE intervention, especially the high dose, reduced the BW and restored microbiota disorder, especially obviously decreased Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio and the abundance of Dubosiella, and increased abundances of Verrucomicrobia and Akkermansia, which also displayed significant difference to the data at 6th week after APE intervention, this partly explained the ameliorated effects of APE on BW control presently. Furthermore, Akkermansia might be the primary target genus for APE intervention to regulate gut microbiota and affect BW. Thus, our study supported the more adverse effects of HSCD on BW than HCD, and APE might be a promising nutraceutical for BW control by restoring microbiota compositions and enriching Akkermansia.