Effects of New Dietary Fiber from Japanese Apricot (Prunus mume Sieb. et Zucc.) on Gut Function and Intestinal Microflora in Adult Mice

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Motoi Tamura²  Yuriko Ohnishi¹  Tatsuya Kotani¹ 

[1] Food Science Research Laboratory, Nakano BC Co. Ltd., Kainan, Wakayama, Japan; E-Mails:;National Food Research Institute, The National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

关键词: ume;    plasma lipids;    fecal output;    intestinal flora;    dietary fiber;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms12042088

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Much attention has been focused recently on functional foods. Ume, the Japanese name for the apricot of Prunus mume Sieb. et Zucc., is an example of a Japanese traditional functional food. There are, however, few reports on the effects of fiber from this fruit on bowel function. With this objective, we prepared ume fiber to test the hypothesis that it can change gut function and intestinal flora in mice. Mice were fed an ume fiber (UF) or cellulose (CF) diet (control) for 40 days. The fecal weight, fecal lipids, plasma lipids and cecal composition of the microflora were analyzed. The amount of feces was significantly greater in the UF group than in the CF group (p < 0.01). The fecal lipids content (% DW) of the feces sampled on the final day of the experiment were significantly greater in the UF group than in the CF group (p < 0.01). Plasma non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) concentrations tended to be lower in the UF compared to the CF group (p = 0.058). Occupation ratios of Bacteroides and Clostridium cluster IV were significantly greater in the cecal flora of the UF group. Our results suggest that ume fiber possesses the fecal lipid excretion effects and feces bulking effects.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2011 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.