Effect of red pitaya-diet intervention on fecal composition from type 2 diabetic mice using NMR-based metabolomic profiling

Considering the beneficial influence of the consumption of red pitaya fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus) on gut microbiota, NMR coupled to chemometrics was applied to investigate the organic compounds variability in feces from non-diabetic participants with those induced type 2 diabetes mice before and after different treatments. The results revealed altered fecal metabolites from mice by type 2 diabetic compared with healthy mice through an NMR-based metabolomics study. They presented nutritional benefits of the red pitaya-diet intervention based on the influence of standard treatment (metformin at 200 mg/kg body weight). The overall results revealed the help of the pitaya enriched diet on type 2 diabetic mice by reasonably prediction capacity with relatively few organic compounds in feces, mainly using 600 mg of the pitaya pulp per kg of mice. Both type 2 diabetic treatments (metformin and 600 mg of the pitaya pulp) presented an influence to decrease the amounts of different organic compounds, such as amino acids, glucose, short-chain organic acids, except the acetic acid in the mice feces. High amounts of these compounds in feces were associated with the inflammatory intestinal process caused by diabetes. Even though the results revealed, some reliable relationships between the feces composition and pitaya treatment, a significant variance (about 62%) in the variables block remained unexplained and still needs further investigation for an in-depth understanding of the pitaya treatment.