Summary:
The human gut microbiome has various functions within the body, including supporting the immune system, the nervous system and influencing the risk of chronic diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Given that it has so many connections to human health, understanding the most ideal compositions of the gut microbiome is important to understand disease risk. Diet plays a critical role in influencing microbial composition and diversity and numerous studies have shown that fruits, vegetables and fish were associated with greater microbial diversity, while fried and highly processed foods were linked to lower microbial diversity. The purpose of this paper was to assess the role of fresh mango consumption on the gut microbiome, gut permeability and bowel movement habits in overweight/obese individuals. The study included 27 participants who consumed 100 calories per day of either fresh mangos or low-fat cookies for a 12 week period. The results showed that the fresh mango group showed larger microbial diversity than the low-fat cookie group by week 4. Even more significant differences were seen by week 12. Mango consumption also increased the abundance of particular bacterias which are beneficial for human health. There was also a slight increase in the amount of bowel movements in the fresh mango group, but no significant findings for improving symptoms of bowel movements such as pain or straining. With these results in mind, the authors concluded that consumption of fresh mango may have positive effects on the human gut, which then yields positive health benefits for overall health and disease prevention.
Abstract:
Some individual fruits have been widely researched for their effects on overall health and correlations with chronic diseases. The beneficial effects of mango supplementation on metabolic diseases have been detected. However, research into mango consumption on gut health, including the microbiome, is limited to processed mango preparations or peels. Our goal was to examine the effects of fresh mango consumption on the gut microbiome, gut permeability proteins, and bowel movement habits in overweight/obese individuals. In a 12-week crossover design study, 27 participants consumed 100 kcal/day of either mangos or low-fat cookies with a washout period of 4 weeks. The mango intervention showed higher Shannon–Wiener and Simpson alpha diversity indices of the microbiome than the low-fat cookie intervention in week 4. Significant differences in beta diversity of the microbiome were found between diet interventions at week 12. Mango consumption increased the abundance of Prevotella maculosa, Corynebacterium pyruviciproducens, and Mogibacterium timidum while it decreased Prevotella copri. Low-fat cookie intake increased Cyanobacterium aponinum and Desulfovibrio butyratiphilus and reduced Alloscardovia omnicolens. There were no significant differences in circulating gut permeability protein (ZO-1, claudin-2, and occludin) levels. There was a slight increase in the amount of bowel movement with mango consumption, but no significant findings for frequency, consistency, strain, pain, and constipation in bowel movement between trials. Given these results, it can be concluded that consumption of mango may have positive effects on the gut health, which may yield possible health benefits for chronic disease that deserve further study.
Article Publication Date: 1/2/2023
DOI: 10.1002/fsn3.3243
