Synbiotic blend ameliorates high-fat high-sucrose diet-induced metabolic derangements in Wistar rats.

AIMS

Over the past few decades, overweight and obesity have become a significant health concern globally. There are several contributing factors for obesity development; however, energy-rich diets and sedentary lifestyles are the major factors. Diet-based interventions play a significant part in curing obesity. In this study, the impact of putative probiotic bacterial blend (BB), isomaltooligosaccharides (IMOs), and their combination as a synbiotic blend (SB) was investigated on the alleviation of metabolic derangements, gut dysbiosis, and low-grade inflammation induced by a high-fat, high-sucrose diet (HFHSD) in Wistar rats.

METHODS AND RESULTS

HFHSD feeding led to obesity, insulin resistance, gut dysbiosis, and behavioral deficits in the rats after 20 weeks of feeding. SB supplementation reversed HFHSD-induced gut microbial dysbiosis, where the richness and relative abundance of beneficial bacteria such as Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, were enhanced, while the abundance of pathogenic bacteria such as E. coli, Clostridium, and Bacillota was decreased. Short-chain fatty acid analysis revealed that the synbiotic intervention group restored the cecal levels of acetate, propionate, and butyrate. Furthermore, the SB inhibited the production of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β. Expression levels of MUC2, MUC4, ZO, claudin, and occludin, were decreased in the HFHSD-fed rats. All these deleterious changes were prevented in the SB-fed rats.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings propose that dietary intervention with the synbiotic blend could alleviate HFHSD-induced host metabolic and gut microbial derangements and could improve health.