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The gut microbiota and related metabolites are positively regulated by soluble dietary fiber (SDF). In this study, we explored the effects of SDF from pear pomace (PP) on the regulation of gut microbiota and metabolism in high-fat-diet-fed (HFD-fed) C57BL/6J male mice. The results showed that PP-SDF was able to maintain the HFD disrupted gut microbiota diversity with a significant increase in Lachnospiraceae_UCG-006, Akkermansia, and Bifidobacterium spp. The negative effects of high-fat diet were ameliorated by PP-SDF by regulating lipid metabolisms with a significant increase in metabolites like isobutyryl carnitine and dioscoretine. Correlation analysis revealed that gut microbiota, such as Akkermansia and Lachnospiraceae_UCG-006 in the PP-SDF intervention groups had strong positive correlations with isobutyryl carnitine and dioscoretin. These findings demonstrated that PP-SDF interfered with the host's gut microbiota and related metabolites to reduce the negative effects caused by a high-fat diet.

Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BB-12 (BB-12) is an extensively studied probiotics species, which has been reported to improve the human gut microbiota. This study aimed to confirm the effects of BB-12 on high-fat diet (HFD)-induced gut microbiota disorders. The probiotic BB-12 was consumed by human microbiota-associated rats and changes in gut microbiota were compared using next generation sequencing of the fecal samples collected from the normal chow group, the HFD group, and the BB-12-supplemented group. The enterotypes switched from Prevotella dominant to Akkermansia dominant as a result of switching diet from normal chow to HFD. BB-12 conferred protection on the gut microbiota composition of the rats by increasing the abundance of Prevotella and decreasing the abundance of Clostridium, Blautia, and Bacteroides in 0–3 weeks. In addition, Prevotella-dominant enterotype was maintained, which provides improve obesity effects. A decrease in body weight and the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio were also observed at week 3. While in 4–8 weeks, the enrichment of short-chain fatty acids-producing bacteria such as Eubacterium and Parabacteroides and probiotics such as Bifidobacterium was observed. The results revealed that BB-12 against obesity by regulating gut microbiota in two phases. After a short-term intervention, BB-12 supplementation suppressed the transition from the healthy to obesity state by protecting Prevotella-dominant enterotype, whereas after a long-term intervention, BB-12 ameliorates obesity by enriching beneficial bacteria in the gut.