The Effect of Capsaicin on the Intestinal Flora

As a common kind of food, pepper is well known for its special effects on the physiological state of human individuals. Capsaicin, the main component of pepper, is speculated to be linked with intestinal microorganisms due to their direct contact. Herein, we first utilized mouse models and 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing to compare the differences in intestinal flora between mouse groups with and without capsaicin treatment by gavage. The mice in the two groups showed significantly distinct performance in terms of weight, leukocyte count, fecal humidity and constituent ratios of intestinal bacteria.