Cerrado and Pantanal fruit flours affect gut microbiota composition in healthy and post-COVID-19 individuals: an in vitro pilot fermentation study

Cerrado and Pantanal plants can provide fruits with high nutritional value and antioxidants. This study aims to evaluate four fruit flours (from jatoba pulp, cumbaru almond, bocaiuva pulp and bocaiuva almond) and their effects on the gut microbiota in healthy (HD) and post-COVID-19 individuals (PC). An in vitro batch system was carried out, the microbiota was analysed by 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and the short-chain fatty acids ratio was determined. Furthermore, the effect of jatoba pulp flour oil (JAO) on cell viability, oxidative stress and DNA damage was investigated in a myelo-monocytic cell line. Beyond confirming a microbiota imbalance in PC, we identified flour-specific effects: (i) reduction of Veillonellaceae with jatoba extract in PC samples; (ii) decrease in Akkermansia with jatoba and cumbaru flours; (iii) decreasing trend of Faecalibacterium and Ruminococcus with all flours tested, with the exception of the bocaiuva almond in HD samples for Ruminococcus and (iv) increase in Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium in PC samples with bocaiuva almond flour. JAO displayed antioxidant properties protecting cells from daunorubicin-induced cytotoxicity, oxidative stress and DNA damage. The promising microbiota-modulating abilities of some flours and the chemopreventive effects of JAO deserve to be further explored in human intervention studies.