The gut microbiota plays an important role in the pathophysiology of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Emerging evidence suggests that anthocyanin-rich foods such as US Montmorency tart cherry (TC) can promote health by influencing the gut microbiota and maintaining gut integrity. This study investigated the effects of TC supplementation on the gut microbiota, markers of gut health, and metabolic parameters in mice fed a western diet (WD). Seventy-two C57BL/6 male mice were assigned to dietary treatments in a 2 × 3 factorial design with diet (control, WD) and TC (0, 5, 10% wt/wt) as factors. After 12 weeks of dietary treatment, tissues were collected to evaluate metabolic parameters and markers of gut health including cecal content microbiota and fecal short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). TC supplementation significantly increased the bacterial phylum, Actinobacteria, cecal weight, and fecal SCFAs and reduced the Proteobacteria and Deferribacteres phyla. However, gut histological parameters and expression of genes related to gut integrity were unaffected by TC. Body weight, serum cholesterol, triglyceride, leptin, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 and resistin were increased with WD and TC had no effect on these parameters. Fasting blood glucose and the surrogate marker of insulin resistance, homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), was significantly increased by WD which was improved by TC particularly the 5% dose. In conclusion, TC supplementation, particularly the 5% dose, improved markers of glucose homeostasis but has modest effects on gut microbial population and SCFAs production. The mechanism by which TC improved markers of glucose homeostasis needs to be further investigated.
Keywords: Glucose; Gut microbiota; Montmorency tart cherry; Short chain fatty acids; Western diet.
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