Abstract
The sugar alcohol xylitol inhibits the growth of some bacterial species including Streptococcus mutans. It is used as a food additive to prevent caries. We previously showed that 1.5–4.0 g/kg body weight/day xylitol as part of a high-fat diet (HFD) improved lipid metabolism in rats. However, the effects of lower daily doses of dietary xylitol on gut microbiota and lipid metabolism are unclear. We examined the effect of 40 and 200 mg/kg body weight/day xylitol intake on gut microbiota and lipid metabolism in mice. Bacterial compositions were characterized by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and targeted real-time PCR. Luminal metabolites were determined by capillary electrophoresis electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Plasma lipid parameters and glucose tolerance were examined. Dietary supplementation with low- or medium-dose xylitol (40 or 194 mg/kg body weight/day, respectively) significantly altered the fecal microbiota composition in mice. Relative to mice not fed xylitol, the addition of medium-dose xylitol to a regular and HFD in experimental mice reduced the abundance of fecal Bacteroidetes phylum and the genus Barnesiella, whereas the abundance of Firmicutes phylum and the genus Prevotella was increased in mice fed an HFD with medium-dose dietary xylitol. Body composition, hepatic and serum lipid parameters, oral glucose tolerance, and luminal metabolites were unaffected by xylitol consumption. In mice, 40 and 194 mg/kg body weight/day xylitol in the diet induced gradual changes in gut microbiota but not in lipid metabolism.
Highlights
Gut microbiota form many bioactive metabolites from dietary components which can regulate host metabolism [1,2,3,4,5]
To reveal the effect of a low dose of xylitol on lipid metabolism, we we investigated cholesteroland and triglyceride concentrations in the andparameters serum, parameters investigated cholesterol triglyceride concentrations in the liver andliver serum, which were notnot different among the three groups of mice maintained on the on control diet (Table which were different among the three groups of mice maintained the control diet2)
We showed that the administration of xylitol at 40 and 194 mg/kg body weight/day significantly altered gut microbiota in mice
Summary
Gut microbiota form many bioactive metabolites from dietary components which can regulate host metabolism [1,2,3,4,5]. Some food derivatives and food additives can affect host metabolism after interactions with gut microbiota [1,5]. Dietary xylitol, metabolized into D-xylulose-5-phosphate, activates the carbohydrate response element binding protein (ChREBP) [7]. We previously reported that dietary xylitol combined with a high-fat diet (HFD) induced hepatic lipogenic gene expression via ChREBP mRNA expression [8]. We revealed that xylitol can improve HFD-induced hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia with cecum enlargement in mice. The administration of a 2.5–10% xylitol solution reduced serum cholesterol and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol in diabetic mice [9].
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