Blueberry and cranberry anthocyanin extracts reduce bodyweight and modulate gut microbiota in C57BL/6 J mice fed with a high-fat diet

Liu, Jianhui; Hao, Wangjun; He, Zouyan; Kwek, Erika; Zhu, Hanyue; Ma, Ning; Ma, Ka Ying; Chen, Zhen-Yu

Blueberry and cranberry anthocyanin extracts reduce bodyweight and modulate gut microbiota in C57BL/6 J mice fed with a high-fat diet

2021

PURPOSE: Blueberry and cranberry are rich in anthocyanins. The present study was to investigate the effects of anthocyanin extracts from blueberry and cranberry on body weight and gut microbiota. METHODS: C57BL/6 J Mice were divided into six groups (n = 9 each) fed one of six diets namely low-fat diet (LFD), high-fat diet (HFD), HFD with the addition of 1% blueberry extract (BL), 2% blueberry extract (BH), 1% cranberry extract (CL), and 2% cranberry extract (CH), respectively. RESULTS: Feeding BL and BH diets significantly decreased body weight gain by 20–23%, total adipose tissue weight by 18–20%, and total liver lipids by 16–18% compared with feeding HFD. Feeding CH diet but not CL diet reduced the body weight by 27%, accompanied by a significant reduction of total plasma cholesterol by 25% and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) by 38%. The metagenomic analysis showed that the supplementation of blueberry and cranberry anthocyanin extracts reduced plasma lipopolysaccharide concentration, accompanied by a reduction in the relative abundance of Rikenella and Rikenellaceae. Dietary supplementation of berry anthocyanin extracts promoted the growth of Lachnoclostridium, Roseburia, and Clostridium_innocuum_group in genus level, leading to a greater production of fecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFA). CONCLUSIONS: It was concluded that both berry anthocyanins could manage the body weight and favorably modulate the gut microbiota at least in mice.

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