Table 1.
Fibre processing and composition (g/kg, dwb) of experimental diets.
Table 2.
Sequences of PCR primers.
Table 3.
Physico-chemical properties of guar gum.
Fig 1.
Viscosity vs. shear stress of guar gum with low, medium and high viscosity.
Table 4.
Weight gain (g), organ weights (g) and blood glucose levels (mmol/L) of rats (n = 7/group) fed low- or high-fat fat diets together with pectin (low-(LM) or high-methoxylated(HM)) or guar gum (low, medium or high viscosity) for three weeks.
Table 5.
Lipid metabolism in plasma and liver of rats (n = 7/group) fed low- or high-fat diet together with pectin (low- (LM) or high-methoxylated (HM)) or guar gum (low, medium or high viscosity) for three weeks.
Fig 2.
Serum levels (μmol/L) of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) in rats (n = 7/group) fed low- or high-fat fat diets together with pectin (low- (LM) or high-methoxylated, (HM)) or guar gum (GG, low, medium or high viscosity) for three weeks.
Values are expressed as mean and SD. The fibre-free control groups (low- and high-fat diet) were compared with the corresponding fibre groups and significantly different means are shown as: * P-value < 0.05, ** P-value < 0.01 and *** P-value < 0.001.
Fig 3.
Caecal pool (μmol) of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) in rats (n = 7/group) fed low- or high-fat fat diets together with pectin (low- (LM) or high-methoxylated (HM)) or guar gum (GG, low, medium or high viscosity) for three weeks.
Values are expressed as mean and SD. The fibre-free control groups (low- and high-fat diet) were compared with the corresponding fibre groups and significantly different means are shown as: * P-value < 0.05, ** P-value < 0.01 and *** P-value < 0.001.
Fig 4.
Log copy numbers of Akkermansia muciniphila, Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus and Bacteroides per gram of caecal sample using quantitative PCR.
Mean values of each fibre group (HM and LM pectin, guar gum (GG) low, medium and high viscosity) were compared to the fibre-free control, for each fat-level, and diets marked with different letters (a or b) show significant differences (P<0.05). Mean values of high-fat (HF) groups that were significantly different from corresponding low-fat (LF) groups were marked as follows: * P< 0.05, ** P< 0.01 and *** P< 0.001. Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) using adjusted sum of square was performed to test the interaction and main effects of each factor (fat, fibre, fat x fibre) on the caecal microbiota.
Fig 5.
PCA biplot to visualize patterns and relationships of investigated biomarkers in rats (n = 7/group) fed low- or high-fat fat diets together with pectin (low- (LM) or high-methoxylated (HM)) or guar gum (low, medium or high viscosity) for three weeks.
Triangles represent each individual rat with different colours for each fibre, LF = low fat; HF = high fat. Different biomarkers are shown in green circles and different bacterial genera in green stars.