Abstract
This study examined the effects of xylitol on mouse intestinal microbiota and urinary isoflavonoids. Xylitol is classified as a sugar alcohol and used as a food additive. The intestinal microbiota seems to play an important role in isoflavone metabolism. Xylitol feeding appears to affect the gut microbiota. We hypothesized that dietary xylitol changes intestinal microbiota and, therefore, the metabolism of isoflavonoids in mice. Male mice were randomly divided into two groups: those fed a 0.05% daidzein with 5% xylitol diet (XD group) and those fed a 0.05% daidzein-containing control diet (CD group) for 28 days. Plasma total cholesterol concentrations were significantly lower in the XD group than in the CD group (p < 0.05). Urinary amounts of equol were significantly higher in the XD group than in the CD group (p < 0.05). The fecal lipid contents (% dry weight) were significantly greater in the XD group than in the CD group (p < 0.01). The cecal microbiota differed between the two dietary groups. The occupation ratios of Bacteroides were significantly greater in the CD than in the XD group (p < 0.05). This study suggests that xylitol has the potential to affect the metabolism of daidzein by altering the metabolic activity of the intestinal microbiota and/or gut environment. Given that equol affects bone health, dietary xylitol plus isoflavonoids may exert a favorable effect on bone health.
Highlights
Xylitol is classified as a sugar alcohol and used as a food additive and in medications
Xylitol affected the amount of daidzein and its metabolites found in the urine (Figure 2)
Plasma total cholesterol concentrations were significantly lower in the XD group than in the CD group
Summary
Xylitol is classified as a sugar alcohol and used as a food additive and in medications. It has been reported that xylitol restricted the ovariectomy-induced reduction in bone density, in bone ash weight and in concentrations of humeral calcium and phosphorus in ovariectomized (ovx) rats [4]. Trabecular bone loss in ovx rats was significantly decreased by dietary xylitol [4]. It has been suggested that the preventive effect of daidzin, genistin and glycitin significantly prevented bone loss in ovx rats at a dose of 50 mg/kg/day, like estrone [10]. Human gastrointestinal bacteria seem to play an important role in isoflavone metabolism [12,13,14,15,16]. Equol is a metabolite of daidzein produced by intestinal microbiota [17]. Xylitol feeding seems to affect the gut microbiota. We tested the hypothesis that dietary xylitol changes the metabolism of isoflavonoids and intestinal microbiota in mice
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