Synbiotic Effect of Whole Grape Seed Flour and Newly Isolated Kefir Lactic Acid Bacteria on Intestinal Microbiota of Diet-induced Obese Mice.

Alterations of intestinal microbiota by synbiotic action of prebiotics and probiotics may confer health benefits to the host. In this study, high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA was used to analyze intestinal microbiota in feces and relative abundance of intestinal bacteria was correlated with physiologic data from a prior study of a synbiotic combination of flavonoid-rich wine grape seed flour (WGF) and two newly isolated kefir lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in diet-induced obese (DIO) mice. The combination of WGF and LAB enhanced observed OTU (operational taxonomic unit)s and Chao1 index compared to WGF alone, indicating an increase in the microbial community richness. The combination significantly enhanced abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila and Nocardia coeliaca and their abundance had an inverse relationship with body weight gain and adipose weight. In conclusion, the synbiotic effects of WGF and LAB on improvement of high-fat (HF) diet-induced obesity are strongly linked to remodeling intestinal microbiota.