Dietary Modulators of Gut Microbiota: Impact on Metabolic Health and Behaviour
Date
2019-07-03
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Abstract
Background The ability of the gut microbiota to influence metabolic health and the potential to alter behaviour has been well-established. Therefore, targeting the gut microbiota to improve its’ composition through dietary agents is an attractive strategy to improve chronic diseases, like obesity, and impaired behaviours in neurodevelopmental conditions, like autism spectrum disorder.
Objective This dissertation examines how dietary additives, including low-calorie sweeteners (LCS), and probiotics, prebiotics and synbiotics can alter metabolic, microbial and behavioural outcomes in rodents. Specifically, the objectives of this thesis were to: 1) assess the impact of maternal aspartame and stevia consumption on dams and offspring metabolism and gut microbiota; 2) determine the effects of long term low-dose stevia consumption in young male rats; 3) examine the impact of prebiotic, probiotic and synbiotic consumption on behaviours in an autism spectrum disorder mouse model.
Methods 1) Diet-induced obese female rats consumed aspartame or stevia alongside a high fat diet during gestation and lactation; 2) Young male rats consumed stevia for nine-weeks; 3) Male BTBR mice were fed diets supplemented with prebiotic, probiotic, or synbiotic for three-weeks. In the first two studies, body composition, gut microbiota composition, and glucocentric and mesolimbic reward parameters were examined in dams, offspring, and male rats. In the third study, body weight and feces were measured/collected weekly and behaviour was tested at the end of treatment.
Results The primary findings from our three study objectives were: 1) Maternal LCS consumption increased body weight and impaired glucocentric parameters in early life in offspring and changes were mediated by the gut microbiota; 2) Stevia intake reduced the relative abundance of cecal bifidobacteria taxa; 3) Probiotic consumption improved sociability and repetitive behaviour whereas prebiotic worsened sociability and had mixed effects on communicative variables, yet probiotic, prebiotic and synbiotic treated mice all had alterations in gut microbiota composition that indicated potential improved gut health.
Conclusion Our results provide evidence for the role of low-calorie sweeteners in perpetuating obesity by altering gut microbiota composition and the potential for probiotic, prebiotic, and synbiotic to modulate behaviours associated with autism spectrum disorder.
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Keywords
Gut microbiota, Autism, Low-calorie sweeteners, Sweeteners, Glucose tolerance, Insulin sensitivity, Behaviour, Probiotic, Prebiotic, Synbiotic
Citation
Nettleton, J. (2019). Dietary Modulators of Gut Microbiota: Impact on Metabolic Health and Behaviour (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.