Prevotella plays a role in the barley kernel-based bread induced improvement in glucose metabolism observed in certain individuals. - GreenMedInfo Summary
Dietary Fiber-Induced Improvement in Glucose Metabolism Is Associated with Increased Abundance of Prevotella.
Cell Metab. 2015 Nov 6. Epub 2015 Nov 6. PMID: 26552345
Petia Kovatcheva-Datchary
The gut microbiota plays an important role in human health by interacting with host diet, but there is substantial inter-individual variation in the response to diet. Here we compared the gut microbiota composition of healthy subjects who exhibited improved glucose metabolism following 3-day consumption of barley kernel-based bread (BKB) with those who responded least to this dietary intervention. The Prevotella/Bacteroides ratio was higher in responders than non-responders after BKB. Metagenomic analysis showed that the gut microbiota of responders was enriched in Prevotella copri and had increased potential to ferment complex polysaccharides after BKB. Finally, germ-free mice transplanted with microbiota from responder human donors exhibited improved glucose metabolism and increased abundance of Prevotella and liver glycogen content compared with germ-free mice that received non-respondermicrobiota. Our findings indicate that Prevotella plays a role in the BKB-induced improvement in glucose metabolism observed in certain individuals, potentially by promoting increased glycogen storage.