Functional profiling of gut microbial responses towards different types of dietary fibre

Dietary fibre plays a crucial role in maintaining gut and overall health. The objective of this study was to investigate whether different types of dietary fibre elicited specific changes in gut microbiota composition and the production of short-chain fatty acids. To test this, a longitudinal crossover study design was employed, in which healthy adult women consumed three distinct dietary fibre supplements: Inulin (fructo-oligosaccharide), Vitafiber (isomalto-oligosaccharide), and Fibremax (mixture of different fibre) during a one-week intervention period, followed by a 2-week washout period. A total of 15g of soluble fibre was consumed daily for each supplement. Samples were collected before and after each intervention to analyze the composition of the gut microbiota by 16S rRNA sequencing and fecal levels of short-chain fatty acids measured using nuclear magnetic resonance. Phenotypic changes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells were studied in subsets of participants with higher SCFA levels post-intervention using spectral flow cytometry.