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A polyphenol enriched variety of apple alters circulating immune cell gene expression and faecal microbiota composition in healthy adults: A randomized controlled trial

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posted on 2023-05-10, 07:45 authored by Matthew BarnettMatthew Barnett, Wayne Young, Kelly Armstrong, Diane Brewster, Janine Cooney, Stephanie Ellett, Richard Espley, William Laing, Paul MacleanPaul Maclean, Tony McGhie, Greg Pringle, Nicole Roy, Lynnette Ferguson
Polyphenols within fruits and vegetables may contribute to health benefits due to their consumption, with the anthocyanin sub-set also adding colour. The Lemonade™ apple variety has green skin and white flesh, with low anthocyanin content, while some apple varieties have high anthocyanin content in both the skin and flesh. Effects of red compared with white-fleshed apples were studied in healthy human subjects in a randomized, placebo-controlled, cross-over intervention trial. Twenty-five healthy subjects consumed dried daily portions of the red-fleshed or placebo (white-fleshed) apple for two weeks, followed by one-week washout and further two-week crossover period. During the study, volunteers provided faecal samples for microbiota composition analysis and blood samples for peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) gene expression analysis. Subtle differences were observed in the faecal microbiota of subjects that were fed the different apples, with significant (p < 0.05) reductions in relative abundances of Streptococcus, Ruminococcus, Blautia, and Roseburia, and increased relative abundances of Sutterella, Butyricicoccus, and Lactobacillus in subjects after consuming the red apple. Changes in PBMC gene expression showed 18 mRNA transcripts were differentially expressed between the two groups, of which 16 were immunoglobulin related genes. Pathway analysis showed that these genes had roles in pathways such as immunoglobulin production, B cell-mediated immunity, complement activation, and phagocytosis. In conclusion, this study shows that anthocyanin-rich apples may influence immune function compared to control apples, with changes potentially associated with differences in the faecal microbiota.

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© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Language

  • English

Does this contain Māori information or data?

  • No

Publisher

Frontiers Media S.A.

Journal title

Nutrients

ISSN

2072-6643

Citation

Barnett, M. P. G., Young, W., Armstrong, K., Brewster, D., Cooney, J. M., Ellett, S., Espley, R. V., Laing, W., Maclean, P., McGhie, T., Pringle, G., Roy, N. C., & Ferguson, L. R. (2021). A polyphenol enriched variety of apple alters circulating immune cell gene expression and faecal microbiota composition in healthy adults: A randomized controlled trial. Nutrients, 13(4), 1092. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13041092

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